


Hide and Seek

by AliceinHyruleBastion



Category: Servamp (Anime & Manga)
Genre: (eventual) mutual pining (one Licht gets his head out of his ass), (in the year of our lord 2019 I'm writing hanahaki dear god), Hanahaki Disease, Hurt and comfort, I 'snapped Licht like a glowstick and the glow is his feelings', M/M, Misunderstandings, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Slow Burn, also do not be fooled I love Ophelia with my whole heart- Licht is just a jealous hoe, also lots of music metaphors if you're into that, and honestly she's not wrong, chapter titles are Phantom songs because I'm garbage, gratuitous Phantom of the Opera and Shakespeare references, in the words of my beta:, minor canon divergence (I futz with a few things here and there so heads up), technically sick fic too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-01-11 08:39:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 72,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18426981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliceinHyruleBastion/pseuds/AliceinHyruleBastion
Summary: 'Hyde avoided his eyes as another cough came, and another, and another, until both hands were clamped over his mouth-Licht couldn’t tell which he was trying to keep from escaping- the flowers or the words he wanted to say.'Unrequited love is a bitch, and the stubborn, nihilistic Lawless of Greed certainly knows its sting of petals choking and strangling him.He just never quite thought he'd be so unlucky as to suffer through it TWICE-Then again, Greed never stops wanting, now does it?(Hanahaki LawLicht AU)





	1. Overture

**Author's Note:**

> Well, let me start with this-  
> This thing is a monster that should NOT have been this long. Like... at all. I quite literally finished this seven months on the nose after I started it and it's nearly 200 pages of nonsense. (Please help me)  
> ANYWAY, this whole idea came to being after I saw a random thing about Hanahaki followed by me going "You know, Hyde would be a good candidate for that since he's so good at pining..." and boom, plot were-rabbit was born  
> So yeah! It was so hard trying to write this because there's just like.... No Content for this fandom and so I struggled, but I prevailed!  
> One last note: since I wasn't INTENDING for this to be so long, I meant to write a short one-shot, but uh.... I think I'd be murdered if I posted over 70K in one go, so I'm splitting it up! In short: ALL OF THIS IS FINISHED, BUT NOT ALL OF IT IS BETA'D YET because college! 
> 
> But, without further ado, I hope you enjoy this clusterfuck- it's kinda random, but it was fun nonetheless and I got these idiots out of my head!  
> (Also I took poetic license with Licht's parents which was fun but do keep that in mind)

Relationships of any sort are bound to fail.

 

Siblings will fight, relationships will bend and bow and snap, parents will mock and belittle, and friendships will sour and turn bitter as time turns the things you once loved into things you can’t _stand._

 

In short, human hearts are destined to become exhausted of whatever person they cling to, fascinating unfamiliarity devolving into obnoxious knowingness that grinds and scrapes at every single nerve and heartstring until something breaks, and affection turns into easy hatred.

 

It was an age-old philosophy that hummed and ticked behind the breastbone of someone who believed he was exempt from the struggles and hurt of humanity’s major flaw as he stands outside the realm of humans, though it was used more as a balm to soothe the scars of hypocrisy on a heart long-used to punishing itself from the oldest of mistakes-

After all, there’s truly nothing more greedy than believing that a person can love you- and you alone- and that you are the only person who can hold their heart within your shaking, nervous hands.  

 

Love makes a fool of everyone, just as every rose draws blood no matter how much you covet it.  Yet it was an old lesson that the One and Only Lawless simply couldn’t make stick. (A greedy heart and a greedy, unsteady soul who yearned for nothing more than someone to _see_ and say _You’re fine being whomever you already are.)_

 

However, even demons fall to the whims of an angel, and perhaps even vice versa in turn, lest the arrogant lens of false hatred be removed.

 

\-----

 

He made his first mistake long ago, when he was younger and softer, naive and tied under the gentle name of someone long dead and gone. He’d been through countless names and Eves and lives, all so laughably boring, but he played his role through to the end- until the curtain  inevitably fell in a shower of delicate red and the stage was empty once more.

 

He strived to stay away from all fair angels after he’d been burned by holy fire so deeply all those years ago, an old scar on his heart marked in the name _Ophelia_ that he knew would never mend, for there would never be an angel like her ever again. (In truth, he should have known there was no such thing as _angels_ , for his young and warped mind had been spurred on by the foolishness of falling in love and conjured the _image_ of a beautiful angel, and while beautiful she was, she was no heavenly being, for she was consumed by the painfully human sin of greed no matter what colors she tried to paint it.)

 

Name in, name out- he lived his life like a falling star, shattering into beautiful colors and dousing himself out before he let himself fall too deeply, shirking the light and thriving in the corners of moonlit nights where he was left alone with nothing but the taste of copper on his tongue and love-sick nightmares to lull him to sleep. Somewhere, deep within him, he knew he wasn’t happy- he _knew_ he hated his life, hated himself- but he was stuck in a refined routine that diverted the attention away from his pathetic heart that felt and _needed_ so deeply.

 

After all, _demons_ thrived on solitude and misery.

 

So he stayed away from angels as best he could, taking Eve after Eve in a desperate attempt to fill the gap in his hungry soul and stifle the taste of violets that was always bitter at the back of his throat, long-rotten but impossible to forget.

 

He never expected to fall again, and so deeply at that-

He’d had _flings_ before, with women with flowing golden hair or electric eyes of green, or with men who were able to strip him of control for just a few hours and fulfill that desire to be _needed_ for a while before he was alone again, but this time his heart wouldn’t be ignored.

 

He never expected that the violets would return.

He never expected to be burned by the light.

He never expected _him-_

 

_Licht._

 

And now he feels himself slowly drowning all over again, but somehow it was worse that he was surrounded by the family he’d reclaimed instead being alone like the first time, forcing himself to choke down blood with every grimace of a smile he gave.

 

 _I hate myself. I hate myself. I hate myself,_ he lamented,

 _But I could never hate_ **_you._ **

 

(It was a mantra that would lead him off a cliff.)

 

————

 

It’d been a successful concert, though a predictable one at that: Licht played his program, the audience applauded and wept, and he shone in holy light as he always did, body alight in a passion only ever seen on nights like these.

 

Hyde huffed to himself, eyes sliding shut as he slipped a finger into the knot of his tie and tugged it loose, tossing it somewhere in the corner of the hotel room Kranz had set aside for him and Licht in attempt to lessen the amount of disruption they’d inevitably cause. Today he’d been required to act as a bodyguard of sorts for Licht, upon which he’d initially laughed at when Kranz suggested it- _“I think he’s the_ **_last_ ** _person who needs a bodyguard with those demon legs of his-“ “I’m an_ **_angel_ ** _, you moron; don’t you dare try and slander me like that!”-_ but of course, he ceded, for two sole reasons:

  1. It meant he would get to mill about during the performance up close and stay by Licht during the show before the inevitable interviews _(“Three? Why the hell do you have_ ** _three_** _interviews back to back, and with all-female journalists?” “Because I’m-“ “Of course, how could I forget- it's because of how much of a_ ** _lovely_** _angel you are? It’s no wonder you caught the eye of both the beautiful ladies_ ** _and_** _the public eye!” “...Jealousy doesn't suit you,_ ** _shit-rat._** _”)_ instead of loitering either in the back of the theater or in the wings,
  2. Licht would kick his ass if he tried to say no, or _Kranz_ would kick his ass and lock him out of the floor he’d rented out.



 

So, he played guard dog for the night with the unusually large crowd, though it wasn’t hard to fake the fangs and claws when someone got too close, and seeing Licht’s reaction when Hyde came out in a traditional suit _certainly_ made it worth it. _(Cherry cheeks and cherry ears- I wonder how far that blush goes?)_

 

 _“You look weird when you’re actually_ **_trying_ ** _to look decent.”_

 

_“Aw, does that mean I pass your test, Angel-chan?”_

 

_“No, it means you disturb me in formalwear, moron.”_

 

_“Hey!”_

 

Hyde shook the memory from his mind with a click of his tongue, shrugging off his jacket and pulling his dress shirt from his waistband. He shivered as his shoulders- faintly wet with sweat from his jacket- hit the chill air of the room, but he ignored it and focused on unbuttoning his shirt instead, reaching for his regular clothes as his mind sank multiple floors down to where Licht was finishing his interviews of the night.

 

He _wanted_ to stay with Licht for them, wanted to listen quietly and flash warning signals to the interviewers when they quipped or got too close to matters they shouldn’t- _“Why the hell do they need to know your type of woman? Shouldn’t this be about_ **_music?_ ** _”-_ but Kranz insisted that he would supervise, cheerfully warning him that the room would most likely be ruined if he left them alone with a journalist and sending him upstairs to change.

 

 _Stupid Kranz; I should be there, especially since I had to wear this ridiculous getup today anyway,_ he groused, ignoring how the hairs on the back of his neck raised at the image of the petite woman he’d seen leading Licht into the room leaning too closely toward him, fingers twirling in her hair like they _always_ did. (If he’d been in his other form, his spines would have been sharp and displayed, bitterly aggressive.)

 

Of course, it was _perfectly natural_ that he felt the way he did; Servamps were inherently and even _viciously_ protective of their Eves, and even possessive to a point. He thought of All of Love and his own Eve, guiding him through life with a wicked blade hidden behind his kindness should harm befall the boy, but Hyde latched onto his eldest brother and that firecracker of an Eve he’d ended up with, knowing and _seeing_ that Sleepy Ash would spill blood for him.

 

 _How nice it would be to care for my Eve,_ Hyde thought wryly, still coming to terms with the lead-realization that he’d be with Licht for far longer than his previous Eves, knowing that he’d barbed himself painfully into Hyde’s chest with a name Hyde still rolled curiously between his teeth, coveting. He was familiar with one-and-done deals with his Eves outside of _her,_ devouring them and moving on, not giving a damn if they liked him or not, but now… now he- he-

 

Hyde threw his shirt with an angry hiss onto the bed, chest heaving angrily as the empty chain he wore around his neck for the sake of having something _there_ bit coldly into his superheated skin. “Shut up, shut _up,”_ he bit out, covering his face with his hands.

 

 _You’re an idiot,_ a voice hummed behind his eyes, _foolish and loving and in too deep- Ha! O fair Juliet, you’ve sinned once again!_

 

His head swam painfully before a sharp and horribly familiar twist of pain wrenched in his chest, and he instinctively brought his hands to his mouth.

 

_Fuck._

 

_***_

 

One hacking fit and self-wallowing session later, and Hyde was perched on the edge of the armchair stashed in the corner of the hotel room, though _really, Kranz, this is more of an apartment than anything,_ blankly rubbing at his sore chest as he stared out of the window. _I hate the color purple,_ he thought bitterly as he let his head drop back against the chair, flushing the image of violet buds in between his shaking fingers far away. (He’d nearly vomited the first time he saw the color of Licht’s Lead, glittering a shade of purple so fierce that his face went pale; Licht misunderstood the fear for one of _him,_ not the past, and smirked gloriously.)

 

_Am I really doomed to do this all again?_

_(Yes, yes, yes, yes, because you want to, you want him, you need to be punished, you need him, you lo-)_

 

He ground his teeth and wrenched his eyes from the window.

 

Then, his eyes fell to the neat pile of clothes on Licht’s bed, perfectly folded and untouched, and an idea came unbidden to his mind with a wicked grin. “Oh, he’s going to be _so_ pissed.”

 

_Good._

 

_———_

 

**Hon Hon [11:47]**

_Licht’s nearly done with his interview._

**Hon Hon  [11:47]**

_I’ll be sending him up soon!_

 

**Me [11:47]**

_well, that only took forever_

**Me [11:48]**

_he manage to make it one piece? i was so sure that one reporter was ready to take a chunk out of him_

 

**Hon Hon [11:48]**

_You know, he’s actually civil with literally everyone BUT you._

 

**Me [11:48]**

_L o w_

**Me [11:48]**

_B l o w_

 

**Hon Hon [11:49]**

_Don’t even pretend it’s not true._

 

(Hyde snickered at his phone screen.)

 

**Hon Hon[11:49]**

_You’ve got one more duty for tonight!_

 

**Me [11:49]**

_WHAT_

**Me [11:49] ‘**

_i thought I was done THREE HORS AGO_

**Me [11:49]**

_*hours_

 

**Hon Hon [11:50]**

_He’s got some special guests here to see him, so I’m entrusting them to you while Licht finishes changing._

 

(Hyde bit the inside of his cheek. _Whoops.)_

 

**Hon Hon [11:50]**

_They’ll be up once I’m done speaking with them, so just chat with them as you usually do until then. They’re kind people, but do restrain yourself for Licht’s sake, please._

 

**Me[11:50]**

_Wait_

**Me [11:50]**

_up as in up to the hotel????_

**Me [11:50]**

_who the hell even ARE these people???_

 

**Hon Hon [11:51]**

_They’re visiting before their own concert in Kyoto._

**Hon Hon [11:51]**

_You’ll understand once you meet them. :)_

 

**Me [11:51]**

_Kranz_

**Me [11:51]**

_my man_

**Me [11:51]**

_you’re scaring me_

 

**Hon Hon [11:51]**

_You have three rules when you’re with them:_

 

  * __Behave yourself__


  * _Don’t tell Licht_


  * _Behave yourself_



 

**Hon-Hon[11:52]**

_Think you can handle that?_

 

**Me [11:52]**

_you said behave yourself twice_

 

**Hon-Hon [11:52]**

_Yes I did._

 

**Me [11:52]**

_when have I been anything but the utmost image of perfect behaviour?_

 

**Hon Hon [11:52]**

_Gil and I have a list that says otherwise._

**Hon Hon [11:53]**

_It’s date-stamped._

 

**Me [11:53]**

_what the fuck Kranz_

 

**Hon-Hon[11:53]**

_How ELSE do you think I’m able to pay for the damage you two cause so effectively?_

 

**Me  [11:53]**

_…………._

**Me [11:53]**

_damn that’s actually impressive_

 

**Hon Hon [11:54]**

_Thank you._

**Hon Hon[11:54]**

_Oh, Licht’s done!_

 

**Me 11:54]**

_thank fuck_

 

**Hon Hon[11:54]**

_He’ll be up in a bit- remember what I said!_

 

**Me [11:54]**

_yeah yeah I know got it_

 

**Hon Hon [11:54]**

_Please let him get ready in peace- it’s been a stressful night for him._

 

**Me [11:55]**

_i said I got it_

 

**Hon Hon [11:55]**

_Why don’t I believe you for some reason?_

 

**Me [11:55]**

_rude_

 

With that, Hyde slid his phone into his pocket and leaned back in the chair, humming satisfactorily when he felt his back decompress and pop, standing as he rolled his neck. _Better go wait in the lounge,_ he thought as he rubbed a hand at his neck, tugging the door open to slip out into the hall. _He’s gonna be pissed anyway, so it’d be better to get some distance on him._

 

Truth be told, he’d been able to feel the stress coiling darkly in his chest, pulling at the tendons in his neck and giving him a headache, but he still felt a smirk curl over his face as he thought about the reaction he’d get from Licht upon seeing what’d he done.

 

_(You do realize what an ass you’re being, right?)_

 

He huffed in response, closing his eyes in response to the niggling voice and plopped down into one of the cushy armchairs in front of the lavish elevators, stretching his legs out onto the ottoman and shutting his eyes.

 

_(You won’t get him to like you like that.)_

 

“Well maybe I don’t _want_ him to,” he mumbled out loud, hooking his arms behind his head.

 

_(Liar.)_

 

_Shut up._

 

***

 

“Oi.” A kick to his shin. _“Oi.”_

 

“Hngh- _wha?”_ Hyde cracked open an eye to see the blurry image of a scowling Licht standing over him, arms crossed and the faintest of amused smiles hidden carefully on his face. (He’d long learned how to find the truth of Licht’s emotions behind the sharp scowls and bitter blue eyes.)

 

“We have beds for a reason,” Licht said dryly, “so why the hell are you sleeping out in the lounge?”

 

Hyde stretched languorously before fixing him with a lazy grin. “I was just waitin’ for my precious angel to get back safe and sound from the dogs,” he hummed groggily. Licht only scoffed.

 

“That would be more believable if you were actually _awake,”_ he said distastefully.

 

“You _know_ I have the early shifts on weekends!” Hyde whined as Licht set down the hallway, fully intent on leaving him behind despite Hyde silently slinking behind him like a petulant dog. “And you were taking _forever_ anyway.”

 

“It’s my duty as an angel of music to fulfil their curiosity and indulge their interviews,” Licht said flatly, not looking back toward Hyde as he kept walking; Hyde’s eyes were watching the shift of the dark fabric over Licht’s shoulder blades like the pull of a sleepy pendulum.

 

Hyde frowned. “But you _hate_ interviews,” he said, before reaching out to deftly swipe the door lock open with his own key before Licht had even moved to open it.

 

Licht side-eyed him coolly. “I never said that.”

 

Hyde huffed. _You didn’t have to._

 

Licht, subdued by over-exposure to people and the late hour, chugged along robotically past Hyde and numbly set to undo his jacket, tugging it off his arms and absently fiddling with his tie. Hyde cracked a smirk, propping a hand on his hip. “You need some help with that?” he asked, his words plain and innocent but his mind purely lascivious, and from the way Licht’s fingers stuttered at the fabric, strong enough to seep into Licht’s own head.

 

The coat Licht had previously removed smacked Hyde in the face, making him splutter. “Get out, you filthy demon, and let me shower in peace!” he barked, and Hyde broke into laughter.

 

“You sure you don’t need help with that _too?”_ he fired back, chest aching with some horrid mix of amusement and violet as Licht instantly flushed, immediately lunging forward to kick, aim still impressively accurate despite his sluggishness. Hyde dodged it easily, holding his hands up in surrender as he backed toward the door. He shot a wink at him before cracking the door enough to slip through, swallowing a laugh as he heard a muffled shout of some multisyllabic obscenity pulled from German and the click of the door lock.

 

 _Even when he’s pissed at me and exhausted, I still adore his German,_ Hyde thought helplessly, coughing quietly into his hand as he reached into his pocket for his buzzing phone.

 

**Hon Hon [12:14]**

_They’re on their way up now._

**Hon Hon [12:14]**

_You didn’t abuse Licht too much I hope?_

 

**Me [12:15]**

_and why would I ever do such a thing?_

 

**Hon Hon [12:15]**

_Because you enjoy eliciting such a reaction from him despite how much my checkbook suffers for it?_

 

(Hyde choked at his sudden bluntness.)

 

**Me [12:15]**

_uh the elevator just dinged I guess they’re here_

 

**Hon Hon [12:15]**

_I’ll be up once I finish cleaning everything up, so take care of them for me until then!_

**Hon Hon [12:15]**

_And remember what I said- BEHAVE._

 

**Me [12:15]**

_yes, mother_

 

He wasn’t lying when he said he heard the elevator, and quickly pocketed his phone before attempting to rearrange his face into one better suited for these _important_ guests.

 

Hyde heard the doors slide open and two people talking quietly amongst themselves, words humming in a blend that suited the buzz of the nighttime. _I hear one male voice and a female voice- a couple, probably?_ he considered as he rounded the corner, freezing when he saw the two: both dripping with elegance, he saw the careful lines of artists in both of them- _musicians, most likely, or actors-_ as they talked, unaware of his presence at the moment. The woman was dressed in rich green, setting off the gold of her hair enough that just for a heart-wrenching moment, he saw the afterimage of Ophelia in her, but then something her partner said made her laugh and he realized it was all _wrong,_ but his first hunch was right as he heard music in each spark of her voice.

 

The other was a tall man that spoke with coolness but also a casual touch, threading a hand through his dark hair just reaching his chin in order to pull it back from his face, a smile bright there and crow’s feet crinkling at his eyes. He was dark on black spare the green pocket square at his breast and the sparkle of emerald at his cuffs.

 

They were so familiar yet unplaceable, and it made his skin itch.

 

Hyde didn’t put the pieces together until he silently approached them, hands in his pockets and a polite smile on his face, guessing that his normal grandiose greetings would, for once, be the wrong way to approach these two, making them both look up at him curiously.

 

Now that he was closer, he found much, much more familiarity within them:

 

The flighty hands of a pianist,

The ever-present metronome somewhere beneath the skin,

The dark, dark hair,

And then, what made his breath catch-

The woman’s _eyes,_ perfect and sharp blue.

 

_Licht’s eyes._

 

 _These are his parents,_ Hyde violently and stupidly realized, now glaringly obvious as he looked between them. _I mean come on, it’s not like he’s got any_ **_friends_ ** _outside of the realm of vampires that he knows._

 

“Good evening,” the woman greeted, and her husband nodded in turn, “we were told to meet someone here while Licht was getting ready?”

 

Hyde’s heart hummed as he recognized the rolling accent he only heard from Licht when he was either exhausted or truly upset, hearing the sharp second half of his name that no other language could do justice.

 

“That would be me, your friendly neighborhood bodyguard,” Hyde joked, bowing dramatically, the tension easing when both of them laughed lightly.

 

“I thought you’d be taller from what Kranz described,” the man said, a faux frown on his face in an air of humour Hyde hadn’t expected. _Damn, Licht, where’d your sense of humour go? Apparently it isn’t hereditary._

 

Hyde clicked his tongue dramatically, propping a hand on his hip. “The man slanders me whenever he gets the chance, so I’m not surprised he’d stoop that low,” he replied testily, scowling just long enough to make them laugh again before breaking into a more sincere smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both; it’s about time I met Licht’s parents.”

 

Both of them blinked in surprise. “Did Kranz tell you?” Licht’s mother asked as Hyde reached out to shake her husband’s hand, then turning to her to gently grasp her hand and press a kiss to the back of it, polite and old fashioned. Pleasantly enough, she showed surprise the same way Licht did: wide-eyed, eyebrows arched high, a soft blush warming the cheeks.

 

Hyde released her hand with a warm laugh before shaking his head. “No, he didn’t, but I can see him in both of you,” he said truthfully, surprising himself.

 

Licht’s mother smiled lightly, casting her husband a gentle look that had him glowing in turn. “Well, I’m Magdalena Jekylland Todoroki, and this is my husband, Keiichi,” she said.

 

“You can just call me Lawless,” Hyde replied, earning a confused look from the both of them.

 

“‘Lawless’? Such an odd name,” Keiichi remarked, and Hyde sheepishly rubbed at the back of his neck.

 

“Call it a nickname, I guess,” he said, “but I don’t often use my real name.”

 

Magdalena tilted her head. “Why not?”

 

Hyde shrugged. “I’ve gone by _Lawless_ for so long that it’s odd to hear others call me by anything else,” he said, only half-lying. _(Because the only one who really calls me that only uses it when he’s_ **_actually_ ** _mad at me or legitimately concerned for once in his life, both of which are rare occasions.)_

 

“It’s lovely to meet you then, Lawless,” she said, and he felt himself smile in earnest, swatting away the thought of _you’re talking to his_ **_parents_ ** _do you not see the implication here_ and thumbing at the lining of his pockets. “You mentioned before that you were his…. ah, what is it, dear-?” she added, twisting up her lips as she struggled for the right word, face a perfect frustrated reflection of when Licht’s brain fritzed out on Japanese words.

 

 _“Leibwächter,”_ Hyde filled in automatically, feeling a prick of pride as he saw them both gawk at him in surprise.

 

“You speak German?” Keiichi asked incredulously, and Hyde nodded.

 

“Yep, in addition to English, French, Japanese, some Polish, a bit of Danish and Norwegian- always get those two mixed up- and some others thrown in here and there,” he said brightly, swallowing a satisfied laugh when their faces further evolved into confoundment. “It certainly comes in handy, especially because Licht seems to have a knack for ignoring words he deems _unnecessary_ and doesn’t bother looking them up.”

 

“You _can’t_ be older than eighteen, maybe nineteen,” Magdalena blurted, “so how on _earth_ could you have learned that much already?”

 

Hyde shrugged. “I get bored,” he said simply, silently adding the _especially when you’re near-immortal_ to himself.

 

“That’s incredible,” she breathed, Keiichi nodding in agreement. Hyde only grinned sheepishly, _embarrassment_ the only thing twisting through him instead of inflated ego and pride. It was rather jarring once he realized it, shifting and shoving it away for him to analyze later (is what he told himself, but he damn well knew he was only going to ignore it completely in a childish attempt for it to go away.) “How on earth did you end up with Licht, anyway?” she continued, and he willed himself not to emote at her unintentional double meaning.

 

“I guess you could call it serendipity,” he said simply, biting at his lip in an attempt not to smile has he remembered the first time Licht had seen his animal form, eyes lighting up childishly before reaching out to scratch under Hyde’s chin. “One thing led to another - you get the gist- and I ended up, well, _chained_ to him, I guess you could say,” he finished cheekily, lacing enough sarcasm in his response to elicit laughter but not suspicion.

 

“It certainly must’ve been an interesting adventure if you ended up friends with _our_ son, of all people,” Keiichi joked, pointing silently toward the chairs beside them in question, before Hyde gestured for them both to take a seat.

 

“Even when he was younger, Licht never really took to anyone as a friend,” Magdalena added as she carefully sat down, crossing an elegant leg over another and shooting Keiichi a glance, _“especially_ someone his own age.”

 

“He always did get along better with older folks than anyone else,” he agreed, and Hyde knit his eyebrows.

 

_Now that I think about it, he always tends to flock toward older people like Kranz over younger people; I think Sleepy Ash’s Eve may be one of the only exceptions._

 

“Do you think it’s from being on the stage from such an early age?” Hyde asked, trying to curiously search for an answer without leaving a neon trail of _please tell me more about him because I’m desperate and he never talks about himself._

 

They both blinked, and he tilted his head, intrigued by their reaction. _Did they not realize it?_

 

“I suppose that could be so,” Keiichi said, “since he so quickly became known as a _prodigy_ and was always called in for interviews despite how much he hated it.”

 

“He never wanted us there or ever asked for help, even though we both obviously already had experience,” Magdalena said, and Hyde tracked the line of her hand as her fingers instinctively twined with Keiichi’s; his chest stung.

 

He forced himself to laugh. “Well, if there’s one thing you learn about him quickly, it’s that he _never_ asks for help even when it’s obvious he needs it,” he said, making them both laugh in turn. He granted them a bitter smile, knowing Licht would rather kill himself out of stubbornness than ask _Hyde_ for help.

 

“He could be a brat sometimes,” Magdalena said bluntly, making Hyde half-choke, “but he was quiet and usually kept to himself.” She smiled softly to herself then, eyes down at her lap before continuing. “He’s always been so… closed off, but I remember the first time I heard him truly _play,_ and it was like I’d truly seen his heart for the first time.”

 

“He was so nervous, then, when he realized we were there,” Keiichi said, pointing at his head with a chuckle, “but then he just took a breath and… well, it was like he just made the room his own, white hair and all.” He hummed a laugh, tucked behind a private smile.

 

Naturally, Hyde was easily able to return the smile, the memory of the first chord he ever heard Licht play reverberating in his heart, his talent both a gift and a weapon as he could shake the very ground he walked on and even bring Hyde to his knees if he wanted to. “I’ve been to many concerts of all kinds, but there’s just something… ethereal about how Licht plays,” he said, before the corner of his mouth lifted, “something _angelic.”_

 

Magdalena’s face melted into one of fierce pride. “He _is_ our _kleiner Engel_ as it is,” she said, and Hyde resisted the urge to roll his eyes. _So_ **_that’s_ ** _where he got it from,_ he thought begrudgingly.

 

“So, Lawless,” Keiichi said suddenly, and Hyde’s eyes flickered over to him, “it sounds as if you’ve seen a few of his concerts; just how long have you known him?”

 

Hyde paused, caught off guard, trying to cycle through the cyclone of memories before he settled back on _Boston._ “Um- nearly… a year, I guess?” he replied, too focused on his own disbelief to notice their reactions. _Spring had just started, I think, and it’s the end of April now- has it really been that long already?_

 

“It’s fantastic to see that he was able to find such a good friend as you,” Magdalena said cheerfully, all bright and sincere without a drop of sarcasm, and Hyde felt guilt pull in his stomach. “First a friend- maybe he could even find a _girlfriend!”_ She clapped her hands together delightedly, looking to her husband, who only reached out to gently squeeze her hands with a faint admonishment in German Hyde didn’t catch.

 

Hyde suppressed the urge to smile at her obvious excitement. “I think Licht’s too distracted by music at the moment,” he tried, jumping when she reached out to grab his hands.

 

“Nonsense! I bet you’d be able to help him find someone,” she said cheerily, “I’m _sure_ of it!”

 

Hyde laughed awkwardly, practiced enough to make it sound mostly genuine before carefully extricating his hands from hers. “I think you’re overestimating me; besides, I don’t think _friend_ would be the most accurate word for me.”

 

Not dissuaded in the least, Magdalena waved him off, completely unaware of Keiichi’s mild unease. “I can hear it in your voice; you can’t fool me, _Liebling,_ for I can see your adoration for him no matter what you say.”

 

Hyde, ever the eloquent one, choked, and he couldn’t tell if it was from the buds in his chest or her bluntness. _Well, if there_ **_is_ ** _one thing he got from them, it’s certainly_ **_that._ **“Todoroki-san-” he tried, trying to derail her, only for her to cut him off.

 

“Your face is easy to read, even more so than his,” she said, before tapping at her chin. “You’re not an artist, are you, but something of the like?”

 

“I- an actor,” he forced out- only a half-lie- and her neon smile lit her face once again as his own went hot. Keiichi gave him a pitying look.

 

“She’s rather good at reading people whether they like it or not,” he said plainly, and Hyde laughed weakly.

 

“I noticed,” he replied, voice faintly cracking. _Another thing they have in common- the ability to utterly rattle me. Really, have I fallen so far from grace?_ “If there’s one thing I’d like to correct you on, it’s that Licht and I… we don’t always see eye to eye on things, and well-”

 

“Licht doesn’t see eye to eye with anyone on any _thing,”_ Magdalena said, and Hyde sighed.

 

“No, I guess not,” he said resignedly, making her tilt her head.

 

“What kinds of things do you argue about then?” she asked curiously, more to her question than her surface words suggested.

 

He smiled sharply. “For starters-”

 

Before he could answer, the sound of a loud thud and a _murderous_ bellow erupted from around the corner, making his parents jump and peer behind Hyde in shock as a pulse of anger reverberated through their bond.

 

 _“Hyde,_ you _shit!_ What the _hell_ did you do with my clothes?” Licht yelled through the walls, and Hyde was _extremely_ thankful there was no one else on that floor apart from them. (He tried to ignore how Licht used _that_ tone with his name, pulling his insides sharp and taut like a bowstring as he fought the instinctual urge to _obey.)_

 

“‘Hyde’?” Keiichi parroted, and Hyde glanced over at him before holding up a finger.

 

“What makes you think I did anything to them, angel?” he yelled back, lazily lolling his head over the back of the chair, suppressing the laughter boiling over in his chest.

 

“Because the only other person who could come in here is _Kranz_ and he at least has a shred of _fucking decency!”_ came the reply, and Hyde looked back up to see Keiichi’s eyebrows shoot up as Magdalena’s eyes went wide. _Oops, didn’t think about that._

 

“Are you sure you didn’t just misplace them, like oh, I dunno- somewhere high and out of reach before your performance?” Hyde replied, snickering when he felt the spark of realization spread into wildfire of irritation consume the back of his mind.

 

 _“What on earth-?”_ Magdalena blurted in German as the sound of a door being violently kicked open rattled through the hall and the sound of angry footsteps reverberated toward them.

 

“I am going to _strangle you,_ you shitty hedgehog,” Licht hissed as he whipped around the corner, granting Hyde with the lovely sight of him in nothing but a hastily-buttoned undershirt and black boxers, hair still wet from the shower and feet bare. (His eyes skipped to the dark mark encircling his ankle, the thin tattoo that signified their contract and Licht’s ownership over him, and his chest burned.)

 

“Is that a promise?” Hyde said cheerily, salaciously, just as Licht stopped dead in tracks as his eyes settled on his parents and their wide-eyed expressions. His eyes flicked from them to Hyde a few times before his face went bright red.

 

Then, he stormed over to Hyde wordlessly, fisted his fingers in the back of his scarf, and yanked him out of his seat and down the hall effortlessly despite Hyde’s shrieks of complaint.  

 

Eventually, Licht tugged him into their room and slammed the door shut, and when Hyde pulled himself up, he was met with one hell of a pissed-off angel. _Oh, here we go._

 

“Did you think it would be funny to ridicule me in front of my _parents?”_ he hissed, voice controlled enough that Hyde realized he was good and truly _angry._

 

He held up his hands in surrender. “Hey, ‘s not like I knew they were coming either until _way_ after I hid your stuff, so don’t go blamin’ me,” he said, narrowly dodging a kick to the side.

 

“I should end you right here and now,” Licht said darkly, and Hyde saw the sparks he felt echoed in his mind crackle around Licht, violet and electric.

 

“You’re not gonna kill me,” Hyde said bluntly, and Licht only faltered for a moment before another kick came up toward his face; Hyde caught his ankle just in time, making Licht stumble.

 

“Don’t-” Licht choked on his words as Hyde lifted his leg higher until he could have rested it on his shoulder- “don’t be so presumptuous, _demon.”_

 

Hyde tilted his head thoughtfully. “Hm, you’re a lot more _flexible_ than I remember you being,” he said loftily, and Licht just glared at him.

 

“Let go of me, and tell me where my clothes are,” he demanded, but didn’t make a movement to try and smack his ankle bone into the side of Hyde’s head.

 

Hyde grinned, thoroughly enjoying the sight of Licht trapped under _his_ touch for once, shower-wet and half-embarrassed. (He indulged himself just enough to trace the tattoo on his ankle, fleetingly light as if it could have been a mistake.) “Nah.”

 

_“Bastard-”_

 

“Go put on your pants and talk with your parents,” he cut off. “Promise you won’t kill me and I’ll let you go.”

 

Licht’s eyes burned. _“Shit-rat-”_

 

“That doesn’t sound like a promise!”

 

_“Hyde- Let. me. go.”_

 

The order rang through him like a gunshot, and he robotically dropped Licht’s leg before internally cursing at himself. Licht smiled victoriously, viciously, before it quickly fell away to his typical blankness. “Now, you _stay here_ and get my clothes back.”

 

Hyde saluted sarcastically. “Aye-Aye, Lich-tan,” he said brightly. Licht just clicked his tongue in irritation.

 

_Idiot._

 

“I heard that, you know,” Hyde complained petulantly as Licht disappeared into the bathroom to retrieve his dress pants, tugging them on and reemerging.

 

“Good,” Licht said bluntly, before tugging open the door and slamming it shut.

 

Hyde smiled to himself, only for it to waver as pain stirred and sang in his chest. He brought his fingers to it and pressed uselessly against his sternum, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them again. _He’s going to be the death of me, isn’t he?_

 

_(Probably, you fool.)_

 

He shook his head and started toward the chair, tugging it away from the window.

 

_So be it._

 

***

 

 _I’m going to kill him. I’m going to kill him until he’s so dead that I’ll be able to use him as fertilizer,_ Licht thought viciously as he made his way down the hall, angrily working at the inside of his cheek. _How_ **_dare_ ** _he do that to me when he_ **_knew_ ** _my parents were there?_ He sighed sharply and ran his hands through his hair one more time before rounding the corner, faltering when he saw his parents talking amongst themselves. He cleared his throat. _“Mutti,_ _Père,”_ he called in lieu of a greeting, mortification tinged in lingering rage twisting in his stomach.

 

 _“Licht!_ It’s wonderful to finally see you,” his mother said cheerily, standing and spreading her arms. He begrudgingly allowed her to hug him, but there was no denying that he was ecstatic to see her again. She pulled away and squeezed his shoulders, peering at him, while his father dropped a hand on his head and ruffled at his hair. He scrunched his nose and bat his hand away, making Magdalena laugh. _“Things never change,”_ she hummed, switching into German, and all he could think of was _home._

 

 _“I don’t like people touching me,”_ he groused, mind flashing to a particularly _clingy_ Servamp, but he made no effort to move away from her touch. She patted him once before retracting her hands, giving him a gentle smile.

 

 _“You didn’t seem to have an issue dragging your friend out of here, however,”_ his father teased, and his back went ramrod straight as heat flashed in his face.

 

 _“I am so sorry you had to deal with_ **_him,_ ** _”_ he said bluntly, teeth grinding, _“and I apologize for my- well- lack of dress.”_

 

They both laughed warmly. _“Sweetheart, we’ve seen you at your highs and lows and literally naked, so it’s nothing to worry about,”_ she said lightly, and he made a noise of disgust.

 

 _“Don’t phrase it like that,”_ he mumbled, and she sighed breezily. _“I wouldn’t even be_ **_in_ ** _this state if stupid Hyde had decided act like a decent person for once in his miserable life,”_ he tacked on bitterly, distracted by the sound of the elevator dinging elegantly before the doors slid open to reveal an exhausted Kranz.

 

He looked up and smiled at Licht’s parents, before his face fell in shock upon meeting Licht’s cold scowl. “What happened to your-?” he started, only for him to interrupt himself as he and Licht simultaneously muttered a flat _“Hyde”,_ though Kranz’s was a touch more exasperated. “I _told_ him to behave,” he tried, but Licht only crossed his arms bitterly.

 

“Like _that_ was gonna work on him,” he said flatly, and Kranz sighed deeply. “He’s like an untrained puppy,” Licht added on, making Kranz snort.

 

“Close enough,” he said, coming to stand beside Licht. “I would like to formally apologize for anything inappropriate Hyde may have done,” he said to the bewildered couple.

 

“I assume you mean….Lawless?” Keiichi said slowly, and Licht knit his eyebrows.

 

“He was very polite, actually, and rather kind,” Magdalena interrupted, confusion in her words. “We talked about how he came to know you.”

 

Kranz’s eyes slid suspiciously toward Licht, who only raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

 

They both nodded. “Absolutely. He introduced himself as Lawless, however; he said he wasn’t used to being called his real name?”  Keiichi continued.

 

Licht huffed sharply. “His name is _Hyde,”_ he said flatly, “not Lawless.” It was sharp and insistent, irritated and possessive, and it rang through their bond loudly that he could feel a spark of surprise and the hint of a heart skipping a beat.

 

Both of his parents blinked at his tone, unable to come up with a response as Licht drummed his flighty fingers on his arm. “So, how did you enjoy the concert?” Kranz picked up smoothly, a smile bright on his face that was a signal that meant _I’m going to talk to you later, Licht._ “The first two pieces were composed by Licht himself.” At that, Licht’s fingers froze, and his age-old nervousness crept back into his bones.

 

 _“They were absolutely wonderful!”_ Magdalena chirped, and Licht pinked.

 

“They’re meant to be played as companions, are they not?” Keiichi asked, and Licht nodded.

 

“They’re two pieces out of three, but I haven’t had time to complete the third just yet,” he admitted. “I’ve got the general idea and the sound of what I want in my head, but-”

 

“Whenever you go to play it and write it down, it just sounds all wrong?” Magdalena finished, making him pause before nodding. She smiled sympathetically. “Even for a prodigy, writing music takes longer than a day and a daydream.”

 

He bristled at her response. “Don’t call me that,” he complained, but he knew it would fall on deaf ears.

 

“If you’re telling a story, why not finish it first before trying to transpose it?” she suggested, making him tilt his head.

 

“What do you mean, _Mutti?”_ he asked sincerely, earning Kranz’s curiosity in turn.

 

She propped her hands on her hips, thinking through her response. “Well, you already said that your first two pieces are companions, and if you’re struggling to finish your final piece, envision what story you want to tell and finish that first, as if you were story-writing,” she eventually said.

 

He blinked. “I’m not telling a story-” he started, but she cut him off.

 

 _“Fall From Grace_ and _Flight From Hell-_ are they not the tale of an angel and a devil?” she said, and he froze. “What story are you trying to complete? Is it a tragedy, a triumph, a love story?”

 

“The pieces are just musical companions, not a story,” Licht snapped. “They’re just inversions of each other.”

 

Kranz opened his mouth to say something, but Keiichi shook his head at him as Magdalena peered at Licht, trying to catch his eye. _“Your playing tells a different tale, Lichtlein,”_ she said head tilting curiously, _“but who is your demon? What are you trying to say?”_

 

 _I’m not saying anything, Mutti, I’m not- I don’t know what you’re saying, it’s just music that worked together,_ he thought in a frustrated rush, fingers squeezing at his arms as he felt annoyance hot at his neck. _You’re overthinking it, making ME overthink it, stop it-_

 

“Licht?” Kranz said, but Licht just viciously shook his head.

 

“It’s not-” he started, before his words were cut off by a sharpness in his chest, making his fingers flutter up to it in confusion, anger dissipating for a second before something electric _twanged_ behind his eyes and through their bond in a cruel pizzicato; his heart pulsed in unfamiliar panic. _Hyde, what are you-?_

 

His breath hitched silently before he instinctively started to move toward their room, moving just a fraction of a second before a loud crash rattled through the hall. A brief shock of pain erupted in his right shoulder before evaporating in the next second as he ran back toward their room, ignoring the shouts of his name as he lurched around the corner. “What did you _do,_ you-?” he started as he shoved open the door, freezing when he saw the bizarre image in front of him:

 

One of the armchairs from the window had been pulled toward the center of the room where the ceiling lowered enough for a vent to hum with air conditioning, its casing half-opened to reveal a familiar flash of striped pajama pants, but it was what he saw on the floor that bewildered him- Hyde, on his knees and doubled over, as one hand clutched at his shoulder and the other was clamped over his mouth as he choked on _something._

 

_What the fuck?_

 

The unprompted thought made Hyde turn his head toward him, eyes widening before the familiar mask of joviality settled over his features. “Well, this seems to be a bit of a pickle,” he said sarcastically, lips spreading into a grin before they twitched into a grimace; there was the faintest smear of blood on his teeth, there in one second and gone in the next with the swipe of a tongue.

 

“What the hell did you even do, idiot?” Licht huffed, fear ebbing into annoyance as he watched Hyde struggle to stand, one hand still clamped at his shoulder as the other slipped into his pocket.

 

“I was just doin’ like you asked,” he said, tilting his head upward, “though I didn’t account for how slippery this chair can be.”

 

Licht stared at him flatly, a perfect mosaic of _are you fucking kidding me._ The grin from earlier returned, and Licht wanted to punch it off. “You fucked up your shoulder,” he said flatly, and the grin slipped.

 

“Yeah, guess I did,” Hyde relented, wincing as he tried to move it back, “but it’s no trouble for someone like me.”

 

Licht blinked. “Uh huh.”

 

“Hey, _you’re_ the one who ran in here all concerned!” Hyde countered, and Licht huffed.

 

“Because I thought you _broke something,_ you useless rodent!”

 

“Ooh, that’s a new one, _Lich-tan,”_ Hyde purred, and Licht’s face darkened. “And here I thought you actually cared about _me_ for once in your angelic life!”

 

“Will you just shut up and let me fix that? _I_ can feel it bothering you and it’s irritating me,” Licht barked, and Hyde’s eyes widened before narrowing impishly, lips ticking up to reveal the points of his fangs; Licht hated it.

 

“So the little angel _does_ care?” Hyde hummed, and got a kick to the kneecap in response. Once Hyde doubled over, Licht smacked his hand from his shoulder and backed him up enough that he forced him to sit on one of the beds. “Wait, what are you-?” Hyde asked suddenly as one of Licht’s hands pressed against the front of his shoulder and the other closed down on his wrist. In one sharp movement, Licht tugged on his wrist and shoved his shoulder backward, rewarded with both a shriek and a sickeningly loud crack before Hyde sighed in relief.  

 

Licht stepped back away from Hyde and flexed his fingers, watching as he satisfactorily tested his arm. “Best to get it back into place as quickly as you can,” he explained coolly, before promptly kicking him straight in the shin.

 

 _“Ow-_ what the hell was _that_ for?” Hyde whined, and Licht glared at him.

 

“You were trying to say thank you _before_ getting my clothes back- _like I told you_ ,” he said flatly, turning on his heel and marching out of the room.

 

“Wait, you- _Lich-tan!”_ Hyde called after him, and Licht only stopped at the threshold of the door yell a _“Don’t fucking kill yourself while I’m gone!”_ and slamming it shut before he could respond, hoping the rattle of the door frame would shake away the uncomfortable sincerity he’d felt blooming in his mind from the thank you he’d quashed.

 

“Stupid hedgehog,” he muttered as he rounded the corner, waving off the concerned looks.

 

“What happened?” Kranz asked, and Licht sighed.

 

“He fell off the chair and dislocated his damn shoulder,” he said, the annoyed bite in his voice conveying the extra _like an idiot_ behind it.

 

“Is he okay?” Magdalena asked worriedly, and Licht swung his tired gaze to her.

 

“He’ll be fine; he’s resilient,” he replied, and she knit her eyebrows. He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I just popped it back in for him, honestly- ‘s not like you need to worry about him or anything.”

 

“Ah, so is _that_ what that ruckus was?” Keiichi asked, and Kranz laughed. Keiichi gave him a look before turning back to his son. “Kranz said we shouldn’t bother following you.”

 

“When it comes to those two, it’s best not to try and intervene,” Kranz said apologetically as Licht scowled at him.

 

“He’s _fine_ now, forget about it,” Licht insisted, side-eyeing Kranz, he raised an eyebrow at him. “Where are you two staying? We can keep talking there, if you want,” he said, changing the topic. Relief cooled in his chest as both of his parents lit up.

 

“We’re only staying a few blocks away, actually,” Keiichi replied, and Kranz clapped his hands.

 

“Perfect! Why don’t we walk you there and continue the conversation? It’s rather nice out right now, and I can bring Gil with us if you’d feel more comfortable with that.”

 

“That sounds lovely! I’ve only seen Gil in photos, but does he really only wear that mascot costume?” Magdalena asked, making Kranz chuckle as he pushed the elevator button for them.

 

“I’ll let him answer that question for himself downstairs,” he said. “We’ll meet you in the lobby in a few minutes!”

 

Keiichi led Magdalena into the elevator, elegantly draping her arm over his as she waved a cheery goodbye. “We’ll see you then!” he called, just as the doors slid shut.

 

Licht let out a deep breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, and Kranz dropped a hand on his shoulder. “You good? You seemed a bit flustered there.”

 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Licht said, shrugging off his hand. “Angels don’t get _flustered.”_

 

 _“Everyone_ gets nervous in front of their parents,” Kranz countered, and Licht hummed flatly. “What _actually_ happened, Licht? I mean, come on, you _bolted_ out of here.”

 

Licht clicked his tongue. “Exactly like I told you- he was getting my clothes out of the vent-”

 

“He put them in the _vent?”_ Kranze interrupted dryly, only for Licht to continue.

 

“-and slipped off the fucking chair like an idiot. He fucked up his shoulder and I shoved it back in. No big deal.”

 

Kranz chewed on his lip before blowing out a breath. “Are you sure that’s all that happened?”

 

 _“Angels_ don’t lie,” Licht reminded sharply, and Kranz rolled his eyes.

 

“No, I suppose not.”

 

“So what’s the problem? I need to get my shoes.”

 

“Licht-”

 

“We didn’t break anything, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Licht added, and Kranz opened his mouth before shaking his head and starting again.

 

“It’s just that- well, you started running _before_ we heard him fall. How did you know?” Licht kicked out his leg sarcastically, punctuating his silent point as the mark on his ankle flashed violet. “...Ah.”

 

“I’m going to go get my shoes,” Licht repeated before turning away without preface, though this time Kranz did nothing to stop him.

 

“You know where we’ll be,” he said a bit tiredly, and the ding of the elevator echoed in his ears as he rounded the corner.

 

This time when he opened the door, Licht saw that the chair had been put back in place, and his clothes were neatly folded once again on his bed. He knelt down for his dress bag, pulled out his shoes and a fresh pair of socks, and tugged them on before standing and heading back out toward the hall.

 

The only trace of Hyde was the light in the bathroom and the closed door, the sound of the shower running. He decided not to bother, not smelling the scent of floral vomit over the rush of fresh water.

 

He let the door shut behind him without a second thought.

 


	2. Think of Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With inspiration stuck at a stand-still, Kranz decides to intervene-  
> And by intervene, he shoves them into a familiar hot springs for a month for a change of pace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The others have arrived! As this is my first time writing for this fandom, I had fun messing with their dynamics and characterization!  
> One thing to note from here on out- POV will occasionally switch, and when it's in Licht's, the Servamps will be known by their contract names (Kuro and Lily and so on), but when it's in Hyde's POV, they're called by their given names (Sleepy Ash, etc). I hope that'll clear some things up!!

_A few weeks later._

 

When Licht closed his eyes, he could see it _perfectly,_ could feel each note fitted perfectly to his fingers as they swayed and slid with each press of a pedal; a war cry, a blood bath, a crescendo in red and silver and the flutter of wings and feathers tacky with sunlit blood.

 

Then he opened his eyes and reached for his pencil, and everything was gone.

 

It was the fourth time he tried that morning, and the only thing he had to show for it were graphite stains and a mess of staff paper, barely covered in anything that could be coherent. He huffed sharply and slid all of the papers off of his lap to the floor, ignoring the rattle of the pencil on hardwood as he raked his fingers through his hair. _It’s never been this hard before,_ he thought, eyes falling shut as he focused on his ministrations, scraping at his scalp and letting the motion ground him. _The first two came so easily, so why the hell can’t I get this one finished?_

 

The first piece had come to him from nowhere, sharp and electric, and even then he already knew he’d be able to write its perfect twin:

 

The first spoke of light forsaken, burning and falling, white on black and a desperate hand reaching for someone who could not see and crying from a mute mouth, the taste of sky turned to ash until it scorched and ate away at pristine feathers. (A rolling, gentle aria of blues and purples, singing through ivory and soaring until it twisted into cruel minor and a shrieking fall of chromatics, finally landing in an echoing discordance, unanswered and lingering.)

 

The second sang of glory in chains, bursting at the seams to be revealed and touch the light yet shirked and buried beneath the earth in hopes that its burn would fade, searching for the sky in eyes long closed and aching for the touch of the holy to be cleansed, to be whole. (Low and rattling, deep in the bass notes of his left hand darkness waited and cried, sparks of sweet notes high in a major chord changing the piece from one of desperation to one of hope, rising and reaching until it stopped just at the top, enough to beckon for a reply that wouldn’t come.)

 

Inverse, opposites; Licht hadn’t intended for there to be a story, following his gut and testing his abilities, proving to himself that he could perfectly mirror and mimic himself. Then his mother said a few words, and everything was thrown out of balance.

 

He _hadn’t_ meant to write a story, but now he was searching for something that _wasn’t there_ and it was screwing with his head.

 

_I can’t do this- not right now, not so fruitlessly. I can’t force it._

 

 _Calm down- you’ll get it,_ another voice hummed, and Licht stiffened.

 

 _Shut up. Get out of my head,_ he snarled, only getting a rolling laugh in shades of burnt copper and sparks of lemon.

 

 _Kinda hard when you’re being so loud that it’s messing with my work,_ Hyde quipped. Licht stared tiredly at the wall. _Your mind’s always so bright and saturated when you compose, but when you’re bitchy it’s just..._ **_heavy._ **

 

Licht seethed, anger and- strangely- embarrassment burning at the back of his neck. He felt violated.

 

_Hey, relax, Angel-chan, it’s not like I was going out of my way to spy._

 

_Go back to work and shut up, you shitty hedgehog._

 

With that, he felt a twang of hurt and dramatic sulking before the presence behind his eyes lessened. He groaned and dropped his face into his hands, just letting his mind wander blankly, smelling the sweat and the pencil lead on his skin.

 

“Licht, are you still in here?” a voice suddenly called from outside his door, and irritation spiked in his chest.

 

“What do you want?” he snapped, and the voice sighed.

 

“Don’t yell at me,” Kranz chastised lightly as he opened the door, pausing when he saw the mess around Licht. “Trying to compose again?”

 

“I _was,”_ Licht said sharply, letting the rest go unsaid.

 

“You know, your next concert isn’t for a month,” Kranz said, weaving his way the room to sit across from Licht on Hyde’s unoccupied bed. “You’re going to make yourself sick if you stress yourself out that much.”

 

Licht worked his jaw. “I’m fine, Kranz.” Kranz crossed his arms and stared at Licht silently, waiting, not looking away. Licht let out an even breath. “What.”

 

“When was the last time you slept properly?” Kranz asked suddenly.

 

Licht knit his eyebrows. “What?” he repeated, thought it was more of a blurted question than the first.

 

“You’re more irritable than usual, and- not counting his early shift days- you’ve been getting up later than _Hyde,”_ Kranz said, ignoring Licht’s bite of anger. “And, considering he hasn’t harped on you because of it, I’m guessing that even _he_ noticed you're a bit out of it.”

 

Licht blew out a breath. “That’s bullshit,” he said instantly, but the way Kranz remained silent and raised an eyebrow made him think and overthink to the point that his stomach turned. _I haven’t noticed the time whenever I go to sleep, and Hyde…. He_ **_has_ ** _been rather docile as of late._ (A pinprick of warm self-satisfaction behind his eyes made Licht’s eye twitch.) He bit at his cheek, crossing his arms. “So what? It’s not as if ang-”

 

“Don’t even start with that,” Kranz cut off, and a bark of laughter forcefully erupted at the back of Licht’s mind in response, making him cringe.

 

“Shut it, idiot,” he snapped, only getting a snicker in reply that made his teeth clench so tightly he could hear his jaw creak. Kranz looked faintly bewildered when Licht looked back over to him, and he sighed. “I wasn’t talking to you,” he tacked on, and Kranz’s bewilderment slid into tired understanding.

 

“That bond of yours has become much more potent ever since the incident with Tsubaki at the tower,” Kranz said passively. Licht cocked his head, confused, and Kranz chuckled. “It was bad enough before when you _weren’t_ in each other’s heads all the time, but now that the bond’s completely solidified it’s like you two are constantly barking at each other even when you aren’t in the same room. Hyde’s powers may have been weakened, but it’s like your connection compensated for it. ”

 

Licht stared at him, the words _I don’t know what you mean_ on his tongue before a rush of warmth swept its way up from hands into his chest, humming and undeniably _alive_ as it sparked unseen just under his skin. _The bond,_ he realized, unconsciously leaning into it as it warmed him from the inside out, a creature summoned by its mention.

 

_Stop being weird, idiot._

 

_I didn’t do anything- that was all you, Angel Cakes._

 

Licht scrunched his nose.

 

“There you two go again,” Kranz interrupted flatly, and Licht shoved away from the warmth of the bond.

 

“Shut up,” he muttered, and Kranz gave him a level look.

 

“Look, Licht, you’re _exhausted,_ and it’s obvious that your head’s not in the right place with this music,” Kranz tried.

 

The words made Licht’s fingers curl angrily into the sheets, fire sparking on his tongue. “Don’t you _dare-”_

 

“What’s today?” Kranz cut off, making Licht’s response die in his throat.

 

“What?”

 

“Today. Not the date, but the weekday,” Kranz replied.

 

Licht scoffed internally. “I’m not an idiot who needs to be tested,” he argued, and Kranz looked him in the eye.

 

“The day, Licht.”

 

“It’s _Thursday,”_ Licht answered angrily, annoyance flaring at his temples.

 

_Woah, Lich-tan, are you serious-?_

 

“It’s Sunday morning, _cher,”_ Kranz corrected, worry as well as knowingness dull in his voice.

 

Licht stared down at his graphite-smeared hands in dumb shock.

 

 _Did you really not realize three days passed?_ Hyde questioned sincerely, not a drop of sarcasm laced in his reply- a rare occasion that made Licht realize the gravity of the situation.

 

 _If you talk to me one more time I’m going to skin you alive and hang your pelt on a flagpole,_ Licht threatened, ice sharp in his reply that elicited a flinch Licht could feel reverberate through his head before Hyde’s presence diminished, gone spare a quiet- but comfortingly warm- heartbeat beating just outside the space in his head.

 

“At this rate, you’re going to work yourself to death,” Kranz scolded, and Licht scowled at him.

 

“Do you have a point to all this?” Licht groused, intending it to be rhetorical, but Kranz’s eyes lit up with something to say. Strangely, it made Licht feel uneasy.

 

“Since being holed up in this hotel frustrating yourself with music is doing you no good, I decided to give Shirota a call-“

 

“You _what-?”_

 

“And since it’s summer now, they’re spending their break grouped up at Sendagayas' hot springs. I’ve been there before when you two had gotten kidnapped, and it’s rather nice-“

 

_“Kranz-“_

 

“So I figured you would do better with a change of pace. Plus, I wouldn’t have to pay as much _and_ there’d be plenty of people to keep you two from fighting.”

 

“You’ve _got_ to kidding me.” _Wait, this is Kranz- the man never jokes about shit like this._

 

“You need actual sunlight instead of that desk lamp, Licht,” Kranz insisted, “and besides, a change of scenery will do you good.”

 

“You make it sound like I’m a chicken being cooped up,” Licht said bitterly.

 

“You may as well be, with what your music is doing to you,” Kranz replied effortlessly, a pleasant smile still on his face that made Licht glare. “Angels aren’t _supposed_ to be cooped up, now are they?”

 

“Of course not,” Licht said automatically, but his fingers twisted around themselves.

 

“Then it’s settled. What does Hyde think, then?” Kranz continued, a touch smug as Licht winced.

 

 _I say hell fuckin’ yeah! It’s been_ **_ages_ ** _since I went to a proper hot springs! And hey, maybe you’d finally show some skin for once instead of-_

 

_Die right now, you piece of shit!_

 

“I’m going to take the expression on your face for a yes, then?”

 

“Shut it, Kranz.”

 

Kranz only laughed, rich and genuine, before standing, smoothing out his pants. “I’ll let Gil know, then, and you two can get packed once Hyde’s back from work.”

 

“We’re going _today?”_ Licht called incredulously as Kranz headed toward the door, his only response a chuckle before it swung shut. Licht paused for a moment, then let out a deep breath, rubbing at his face with his hands before letting himself fall onto his side, the bed cushioning him.

 

Now that he focused on it, he could feel the pain in his back and his neck from craning over to write messy notes, taut and white-hot from days of abuse. His head swam fuzzily and his stomach complained to him, sharp and hungry. His head was pounding as well, a cruel mockery of the tempo he’d been trying to chase. It was like it all suddenly crashed over him, dreadful and red-gray. _I feel horrible._

 

_It took you that long to notice?_

 

Licht closed his eyes with a groan, curling into himself. _I didn’t ask for your opinion._

 

 _Well, it kinda_ **_has_ ** _to be my opinion when it affects me too, don’tcha think?_

 

_Shut up. I don’t want to deal with you today._

 

Hyde laughed quietly, a little sadly, deep ocean blues uncommon from him rolling in the sound of his voice. _You never want to, angel; that’s what makes you interesting._

 

 _Just hurry up and come back so Kranz doesn’t yell at us, idiot._ He didn’t feel like arguing for once, exhaustion eating away Hyde’s reply as darkness overtook him, and finally, he slept.

 

***

 

_(A few hours later.)_

 

Pleasantly sore and satisfied with work, Hyde stretched loudly as the elevator swept him up to their floor, silent spare the whirring of the motors. Numbly, he slipped out of the doors and made his way toward the room, letting his feet carry him on autopilot as he turned his mind inward. It was quiet, a soft amber glow permeating the back of his mind. It was heavy, but not oppressive, like a comfortingly relieved weight in his arms. _Did you finally fall asleep, little angel?_

 

Upon cautiously opening the door, he saw he was right, seeing Licht curled away from him, his shoulders rising and falling steadily. Depositing his stuff on the floor by his own bed, Hyde crept silently toward Licht, walking around it until he knelt down in front of him. In sleep, Licht finally looked peaceful, thought the traces of exhaustion still weighed on him in the form of overly-pale skin, bruised eyes, and mussy hair, his hands curled tightly into his chest. Kranz had been right; Licht really hadn’t slept properly for the past few days, only catching a few hours here and there, and had been working non-stop. He was up when Hyde’s 2am work alarm woke him, he was awake when the nighttime crept to unending darkness, and he was asleep far into the afternoon only to repeat the cycle all over again.

 

However, this was the first time Hyde had seen him sleep truly and deeply, as if it had caught him off-guard.

 

 _Well, I guess it did,_ Hyde thought, reaching out to gently run his fingers through Licht’s hair as he pulled it away from his face, thumbing over the white strand lit softly from the light of the window.

 

He jerked his hand back when his chest started to burn, sighing sharply as he stepped away.

 

Looking at the clock on the nightstand, he figured he could take a few hours for himself, and stepped toward his own bed to tug off his shoes and his scarf, wincing as it caught at the chain around his throat and tugged just a tad too sharply. He huffed and chucked it behind him, loosening his tie and shrugging off his vest for the hell of it and flopping face-first on the bed, inhaling the scent of hotel detergent.

 

He tried to fall asleep to no avail for a few minutes, the bed just too uncomfortable at that moment. He groaned and sat up, dragging a hand through his hair, before making an impulsive decision and sliding off of his bed. Then, he carefully settled his weight on Licht’s mattress and switched to his animal form, crawling his way toward Licht’s pillows and nestling in them.

 

The closeness and warmth from Licht’s body was finally enough to lull Hyde to sleep, the ache in his chest and his bones easing for just a few minutes.

(Somewhere deep on the edge of sleep, a sigh hummed in happy pinks and purples, an echo, a thank you, and both were able to sleep.)

 

***

 

A few hours later, when Kranz decided that the lack of noise from their room was more concerning than their regular chaos, he knocked on the door. Licht had jolted awake, hands flailing out to push him up. He barked a groggy _W_ _hat?_ that made Kranz open the door and peek inside, spotting him completely sleep-mussed and laughing to himself. “Get ready; we need to leave soon.”

 

Licht just groaned and dropped back onto the bed, crashing somewhere amongst the pillows and lurching away when a loud shriek sounded from amongst the fabric. He shoved back away, eyebrows knit and tired mind not processing fully when a familiar pulse of energy and a whine sounded in the room as a crying hedgehog shifted back into a pained Servamp. “You _squashed me,_ you heathen!” Hyde complained, clutching at his head, hair a mess and glasses askew.  “That _hurt!”_

 

“Then what the hell were you doing in my bed in the _first place?”_ Licht snapped as his brain caught up, baring his teeth when Hyde cracked open one teary eye.

 

“Hedgehogs get cold, and especially cute ones at that,” Hyde pouted, and Licht stared at him blankly.

 

Then, in the next two seconds, he kicked Hyde flat onto the floor with a rather painful-sounding _thud._

 

“I’m going to go get Gil,” Kranz said wearily before shutting the door.

 

The second the door clicked shut, Licht whipped his head toward Hyde with a glare. Hyde offered a weak grin, but his only hint of his impending doom was the twitch in Licht’s jaw before Licht launched himself at him, purple light and obscenities filling the room.

 

“I shouldn’t have woken them up,” Kranz said miserably to himself as the ruckus exploded down the hall, the elevator doors swallowing the cacophony of chaos.

 

(In the end, one of the windows ended up cracked, a lamp was broken, and the door to the bathroom was splintered from being kicked open. Kranz stared them both down with the weight of a thousand suns once he came back up a few minutes later with Gil.)

 

\-------

 

In the end, they somehow all made in (mostly) one piece, an overly cheery Kranz in the driver’s seat meaning that he was actually pissed off, though the two culprits seemed to be unbothered as they continued to bicker. Or, rather, Hyde was poking and toying with Licht, who appropriately quipped and hit him back to the point that Gil ended up whipping around and forcibly blocking Licht’s legs from his current target- Hyde’s face.

 

_(“Oh thank god.”_

 

_“Don’t think you’re safe from my divine retribution, you piece of shit.”_

 

 _“For the love of_ **_all_ ** _that is holy- to which you are not included, Licht-  you two need to_ **_shut the hell up.”_ **

 

_“Ooh, didja hear that, Lich-tan? We got Kranz to swear!”_

 

_“Hyde, zip it.”_

 

_Licht ended up snorting, earning a chastising smack from Gil.)_

 

Upon actually arriving, they were led down to the suite where the others were staying by one of the workers, who gently knocked. The door slid open to reveal Mahiru Shirota, whose face from visibly confused to excited the minute he registered them in his openly-obvious way he had. “Hey, the Greed pair’s here!” he called backward into the room, earning a dry “Oh goody, more noise,” from the couch where a lazy leg dangled over it.

 

“Kuro, _be_ _nice,”_ Mahiru scolded, eliciting a loud snort from Hyde. Licht side-eyed him.

 

“How long do we have to deal with you again?” Kuro asked, pulling himself up enough to dangle his arms over the edge of the couch to stare at the two. Mahiru crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at him, and Kuro scratched sheepishly at his neck though his expression remained the same.

 

 _He’s so fuckin’ whipped,_ Hyde crowed mentally, and Licht aimed a kick backward, nailing him in the kneecap with a satisfactory whine.

 

“Hey! Don’t you two start fighting already!” Mahiru scolded, exasperated, and Licht was once again struck by how _motherly_ he was.

 

“They’ll be here until Licht’s next performance,” Kranz announced brightly from behind the two, hands propped on his hip.

 

Both Hyde and Licht froze in shock before whipping around.

 

“Are you telling me that I have to-”

 

“You’ve _got_ to be kidding me-”

 

“-I have to be here with _him_ for a _month?”_

 

“What the fuck, Kranz?”

 

Their outraged replies erupted over each other, grinding and smeared across the room in matching shades of incredulity, Licht’s hands angrily aflutter while Hyde’s ran harshly through his hair.

 

“Enjoy your stay, you two; Gil will he nearby if you need him,” Kranz interrupted, before sliding the door shut in their faces. They stared at the door, blinking, before looking at each other.

 

“Oh _hell_ no.”

 

“For once, I’m actually inclined to agree with you, shit-rat,” Licht said dryly.

 

Mahiru looked between them in concern, hands awkwardly raised as if to steady one of them. Hyde huffed a sharp breath before shoving the door open and letting it fall shut, rattling in its track. Licht, instead of being angry, was perplexed by his reaction, a pulse of unfamiliar and electric panic sharp in his stomach and burning behind his ribcage catching him violently off guard. _What’s_ **_he_ ** _so afraid of?_ he thought viciously, anger eventually creeping back in as he reached for the door, only to be stopped by a hand at his wrist.

 

“Don’t,” Kuro said lowly, and Licht scoffed, opening his mouth to speak when Kuro shook his head. “Something’s off with him; don’t push it.”

 

Licht tugged his hand away. “There’s nothing wrong with him,” he said certainly, “he’s just being as annoying as he always is.”

 

“Licht-” Mahiru started, only to be cut off by the ice in Licht’s expression. He sighed then, crossing his arms again. “Fine, let him come back on his own; it’s not like he can go too far. While we wait, however, let’s gather the others and catch up for a bit,” Mahiru said, his words a suggestion but his tone a demand. With no other option, Licht ceded, and Mahiru chased him to the couch.

 

Sitting down heavily with a sigh, Licht looked out to see that the sun was starting to reach its evening amber, creeping sleepily through the window to turn the whole room as well as the pond just outside a gentle orange that made him tired all over again. Eyes flicking to the other sides of the room, he saw three more sliding doors; he presumed the two larger ones to his left were to separate sleeping rooms while the third was most likely the bathroom, but he wasn’t in any mood to explore at the moment. A low coffee table sat in front of him just beside the screen outside to the small porch where cicadas were whining, and a taller dining table sat in the corner crowded with cups and paper and other touches of life and familiarity; it was obvious they’d been sharing the suite for a while, with the air of mixed personalities filling the room with its colors.

 

It reeked of home though none of them truly lived there in a strange sense comfort that seemed false, faked, and made Licht uneasy.

 

So, he leaned his head back with a faint groan and shut his eyes, ignoring the heavy presence of Sloth just behind him as exhaustion still wavered in the back of his mind. “You need to keep an eye on him, you know,” Kuro said, his voice disrupting the silence in the room. “Servamps have a natural tendency to crave care; we _need_ to be looked after.”

 

Licht clicked his tongue. “He doesn’t _need_ me,” he replied. “The only thing I can give him is divine cleansing.”

 

Kuro seemed unfazed, obstinate. “You may not think something’s wrong, but sometimes it takes a human eye to find the truth.”

 

He said nothing else, his words damning enough that Licht couldn’t find it in himself to argue.

 

_He needs a human then, hm? Well, I think he’s fresh out of luck if he thinks an angel like me would help such a lowly demon. There’s nothing even wrong with him anyway._

 

(At that moment, a single bud burst into bloom in a violet-colored lie, stealing breath and spilling blood in smothered gasps and the burn of all-too familiar tears. Licht’s mind was utterly silent, entirely undisturbed, even as Hyde wanted to scream.)

 

\------

 

After Mahiru had left to retrieve the others milling about the hot springs, Kuro nodded toward the door to the left of the room with a mumbled “You’re sharing with us,” before shifting into his cat form and slipping around the screen to bask alone in the remaining light, stretched out lazily on the porch. Licht peeled himself off the couch and winced at the pain in his back from his backpack pushing crookedly into his shoulders. He reluctantly slipped it off and hooked it on his arm before standing, approaching the door Kuro had gestured toward and sliding it open.

 

It was dark with the shades drawn, but was a basic set up with tatami mats and four futons. From the look of it, two had been freshly added while the others were lived in and pushed close together, one messier than the other. _I’d rather not share another room with him,_ Licht thought as he set his bag on the futon closest to the wall, careful not to crush his wings.

 

Licht set himself down much less cautiously than his bag, pleased with how surprisingly soft the futons were. Normally he preferred western beds, not fond of the Japanese bedding, but it seemed the Sendagayas didn’t skimp on their futons. He stretched out a leg and tugged off his boot, depositing it in a general direction toward the wall before his other boot joined it. He let out a deep breath and lay down, burying his face in the pillow and curling his hands into his chest. _It’s warm,_ he thought numbly, and the idea of taking another nap was incredibly enticing. He figured Mahiru would be back with the others and decided against it, pushing himself up.

 

Something dark tucked in the corner of his futon caught his eye then, and reached out to pluck it out, turning over what ended up being a note between his fingers. On the front was a picturesque view of the hot springs, while the back had a handwritten note, though Licht assumed it was one of many identical ones written out for all of the guests.

 

Squinting, he lifted the note to his face and tried to read it; he could speak Japanese fairly fluently with only a few slip-ups here and there, but his reading suffered much more. Hiragana he could work with and kanji ended up as a faintly-readable nightmare, but his already-frustrated mind just blurred the majority of it into a block of black text that mocked him, clear spots here and there like lighthouses on a dark sea.

 

He wanted to crush it out of annoyance, but figured that someone would guess what had happened and blew a sharp breath from his nose and started again stubbornly, clearing his head.

 

In the end, it was a fairly generic _thank you for staying, enjoy your visit_ kind of message with the extra pleasantries and suggestions as to what to do while visiting, but it felt like such a such a monumental task only exacerbated by his exhaustion and the calligraphic nature of the writing. He peered at the end, trying to read the signature, able to pick out most of valediction, but it was stylized in a way that made the characters that much harder to read. _“White…. Something? That’s probably ‘hot springs’, but it doesn’t look right,”_ he mumbled to himself, slipping back into German.

 

 _“‘Regards, the Sendagaya Family’s White Water Hot Springs’,”_ a voice cut in from next to his ear- this time in oddly-accented English- making Licht flinch as Hyde’s chin rested on his shoulder.

 

“Get the fuck off,” Licht said coolly as he shoved Hyde’s face back with his palm, pulling it back before he could try and lick it as Licht had learned the hard way before. “Where the hell have you been, anyway? Sulking?” he added as Hyde pulled himself back up to sitting with a groan, swiping a hand under his glasses to rub at the bridge of his nose.

 

“I was just exploring, finding all the best places to hide from that angelic wrath of yours,” Hyde quipped, and Licht heard how his attempt at a joke fell just slightly flat. _He sounds genuinely serious._

 

“Wrath is a deadly sin,” Licht said instead, “and angels don’t sin.” Hyde blew out a snort, but his eyes didn’t meet Licht’s. It was then that Licht smelled flowers on him, and he knit his eyebrows. “Did you walk through a garden on the way or something?” he asked, a touch disdainful.

 

Though Hyde’s face and body language was blasé, an ice-pick of panic pricked at the back of Licht’s mind. “You know I’m not one for flowers,” he replied, a grin fixed in place crookedly, but not from his usual childishness.  

 

“You like roses,” Licht said automatically, blinking at himself for remembering that. “Fitting, for the horrible romantic you are,” he tacked on, smoothing over his own hiccup.

 

“Everyone likes roses, silly angel, and why not? They represent the purest of love anyway,” Hyde teased, his words curling and fluttering, but his thoughts were flat but building into noise-

 

_Hyde’s hiding something._

 

“They’re boring _because_ everyone likes them,” Licht countered absently, watching as Hyde paused.

 

 _But_ **_why_ ** _is he hiding it?_

 

“Well, you’re a rather cynical angel today,” Hyde said blithely, looking behind him and shifting just enough to fall back onto the last futon. “Guess this one’s mine, huh?” Hyde’s thoughts were like static, numbing and red-gray, roiling and buzzing in Licht’s head, churning and rising and pressing against his eyes heavily enough to make his temples pound.

 

_He’s lying and it’s annoying me- why?_

 

“Guess the last one gets the worst pick…”  Casual words, screaming head; wailing thoughts, a banshee scream of a nightmare on a placid, calm face; the more the noise from Hyde’s head spilled violently into Licht’s, the more it drew questions to the forefront of his mind in an effort to stave off the impending sound.

 

 _Why?_ **_Why?_ **

 

“Hello? Angel? You’re spacing out on me-”

 

**_Why does it matter to me?_ **

**_Why is his silence so annoying?_ **

 

“Will you _stop_ that?” Licht snapped, voice echoing, and Hyde recoiled from Licht as if he’d been struck. “God, you’re being so _loud_ that I can barely _breathe!”_

 

The static sharpened into a point of white noise before vanishing, fleeing like a rabbit from the metal jaws of a muzzle. “Sorry,” Hyde blurted, eyes blown wide enough that the red of them seemed to glow eerily in the low light of the room. “I guess I didn’t realize.”

 

“Then be more aware next time, _dummkopf,”_ Licht sniped, only for his irritation to flare further as Hyde laughed despite the glare he was earning.

 

“As the _archangel_ commands,” Hyde said, flashing that grin once again that Licht was starting to understand was his version of a smoke screen. He scowled at him, and Hyde’s grin vanished. “What?”

 

“Nothing, idiot,” Licht answered, pushing up to stand and letting the note flutter from his fingers. He brushed off his sweatshirt and made his way to the door, not wanting to see what expression would be waiting for him this time when he looked back.

 

So he didn’t.

And Hyde didn’t call out his name either.

 

The door slid shut quietly, though loudly enough to echo of lies unfinished and bonds still raw, not yet close enough to trust.

 


	3. Angel of Music/The Phantom of the Opera

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's no rest for the wicked, and the flower-stained secrets are bound to come bursting forward no matter hard they're repressed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, buckle up, it's time for my special brand of plot pulled from my ass and extreme violence-   
> Graphic injury, blood, and questionable subclass appearances ahead! 
> 
> I had a very particular image in my head when it came to this chapter and I'm not quite sure where it came from, but uh.... yep, it got messy. Sorry! 
> 
> Anyway, ignore me- I hope you enjoy!

With the whole party jammed into the suite, pleasantries and small talk warmly filled the air; Mahiru was trying to read his summer assignment in the spare time he had, Lily was tentatively stabilized but still weak despite the bright smile on his face, and Hugh was still recovering from the loss of his Jinn. 

 

During the conversation, Licht sat silently at the end of the table, leaning his chin into his palm and absently toying with a glass of water. He didn’t want to bother with the chatter and instead focused on the wall behind Mahiru, who sat across from him, eyes occasionally flickering to the tuft of a black tail flicking sleepily from his lap.  _ He’s lucky he gets such an adorable animal,  _ he groused mentally, ignoring the small pinch of hurt toward the back of his mind. 

 

He slid his eyes over to the right, where the screen was cracked enough to let the cool evening air waft gently through the room in tune to the calm hubbub of noise. Resting just in front of the opening were a bat and a hedgehog, both stretched out comfortably; Hugh was spreading his wings out in the breeze while Hyde was curled on his side, spines flat and soft.

 

Licht looked back over toward Mahiru where Kuro had popped his head up, tilting his head in a silent demand for his Eve to scratch behind his ears, which he did. His fingers paused as he laughed at something Misono said, and Kuro scowled (as best as a cat could) and headbutted Mahiru’s hand, who started petting him again instantly. 

 

Back over to screen, where Hyde had his back turned from Licht. Licht huffed, puzzling over nothing.

 

_ What, are you really that envious of them? I could come over and sit in your lap if you  _ **_really_ ** _ wanted.  _

 

Licht wasn’t oblivious to the innuendo in Hyde’s tone, and he scrunched his nose. 

 

_ I have a feeling Sendagaya wouldn’t be pleased if I kicked your lifeless corpse through the wall into the pond.  _

 

“Licht-san? Are you okay?” Mahiru asked, his voice filtering over the voices in a perfect pinpoint way to have every head turned toward him.  _ Great.  _

 

Licht grunted before bringing his cup to his lips. “I’m fine,” he muttered, before taking a long sip. 

 

When he set the cup back down, he saw a shift out of the corner of his eye, and he turned to see Hyde now sitting cross-legged and cheeky in his human form, the grin on his face somehow simultaneously innocent yet also suggestive.  _ You know you waaaant me to.  _

 

“I will break your fucking legs, idiot,” Licht threatened, and Hyde burst out laughing, falling onto his back and wheezing. 

 

Licht stared flatly at Mahiru.

Mahiru gave him a sympathetic- albeit confused- smile. 

 

“Anyway, Mahiru,” Lily interrupted, waving lightly for his thin voice to be heard, and Licht didn’t miss the hint of a wince on Misono’s face. “You’d mentioned that there were more rumors of Tsubaki’s subclasses searching for you?” 

 

Mahiru’s face lit up in an  _ oh!  _ before he continued. “Tetsu told me that some of Hugh’s subclasses picked up chatter about another group of Tsubaki’s searching for us, but it was a bit through the grapevine.” He turned to Tetsu, who was sitting to his left across from Misono. “Do you remember exactly what they heard? I remember some parts, but I’m not sure.” 

 

Tetsu hummed and set down the paper he had in his hands, some advertisement poster he was busy customizing to apparently make copies of. “They were middle-lower class information scavengers from what Hugh described, but nowadays it’s a bit harder to decipher what he means.” 

 

Licht looked between Tetsu and Hugh, eyeing the pair and their interesting dynamic as Hugh swapped back to human form with a loud stretch, announcing that  _ an old man like him needed to rest.  _ Tetsu immediately stood and made his way over to take him to bed; Hyde scooted out of the way awkwardly, and Licht forced back a snort when he fell over. 

 

“It seems as if Tsubaki’s still trying to dig out info on us to try and undermine us,” Misono suggested, leaning forward on the table. “Since he hasn’t been able to reach you and the Envy pair’s elusive enough that they can’t be pinned down, he’s using moles to try and dig you out.” 

 

Mahiru knit his eyebrows. “But what about Wrath and Gluttony? He wants to go after them too, right?” 

 

“No one is quite certain of World-End’s location right now, and Wrath lies in C3’s captivity, so he’ll most likely focus on those two once he’s able to get better footing on them,” Lily said. “Although-“  he paused, placing inquisitive fingers at his lips- “we’re not even entirely certain what Tsubaki’s full intentions are, and even the ones he has now are foggy and nonlinear.” 

 

“So we can’t be entirely sure of what he plans on doing next,” Mahiru finished with a deep sigh, and Lily smiled empathetically at him.

 

“I guess it would be wise to try and focus on that assignment of yours, then,” he said lightly, and Mahiru groaned. “You mentioned it was English, yes? Then why not ask Misono for help; after all, foreign languages  _ are _ his favorite subject.” 

 

_ “Lily!  _ Don’t just-!” Misono spluttered, lightly swatting at his shoulder as Lily laughed breezily before a cough caught in his chest and Misono’s face fell. 

 

“I think that’s a good idea,” Mahiru said brightly, trying to ease the mood. 

 

_ (Why am I here again? I feel pointless.) _

 

“Lich-tan’s also pretty good at English, though don’t ask him for grammar help if you want a good grade,” Hyde called lazily from where he was stretched out on his back, tapping at his phone. 

 

Licht’s instinctive reaction was to pick up the closest thing to him and throw it, which just so happened to be his recently-emptied cup. It hit Hyde square in the chest, making him wheeze and turn over as he hacked. “Shut up and die, asshole!” 

 

“So-“ a cough-  _ “rude,  _ Angel!” 

 

“I don’t care,” Licht retorted, making Mahiru call his name in admonishment while Lily hid a faint laugh between fine-boned fingers. 

 

“Please don’t throw stuff,” Mahiru tried weakly, only to abandon his attempt when Licht wheeled a glare toward him. He leveled a cool look back before holding up his hands in silent surrender. “So, you know English? I guess you would, living in Europe, but do you know any others?” 

 

Licht sighed deeply, not wanting the attention turned on him for such mundane information, his rust-rose annoyance clashing with a familiar pulse of yellow gold, which only meant that Hyde found his situation hilarious. “My mother was born in Vienna, and my father is Japanese yet raised in France,” he said in lieu of an answer as he thumbed absently at the edge of the table, his other hand cupping his chin. 

 

“That means… Japanese, English, German,  _ and  _ French?” Mahiru asked incredulously, earning a surprised look from Misono.

 

“Obviously.” Their expressions changed from curiosity to  _ awe,  _ and Licht couldn’t deny the tiny, satisfied flicker he felt in his chest. “I’m also quite familiar with Italian, though only in the musical and operatic sense.” 

 

“Are you  _ serious?”  _ Mahiru blurted, just as Kuro- obviously annoyed with his abrupt nap being interrupted with Mahiru’s jarring- shifted back into his human form with his head resting in Mahiru’s lap and his legs stretched out across the floor. 

 

“Way too much work,” Kuro mumbled, and Mahiru snorted. 

 

_ “Lovely angel with lovely tongues, Annabel Lee,”  _ Hyde sing-songed sarcastically, his weapon of choice French this time with an old-fashioned twist to the familiar syllables. 

 

_ “Go fuck yourself,”  _ Licht snarled back, and Hyde smirked at his phone, not bothering to look up. 

 

_ “Or what- you’ll do it for me?”  _ he crowed, and Licht’s face went red. Hyde sat back up and cracked a grin, though slightly pained as he coughed just once, before bolting as Licht launched from his seat after him. 

 

“So foul-mouthed, those two,” Lily said calmly as they watched the two slip and slide around the room, Mahiru immediately standing to intervene as Kuro whined at him for moving. 

 

“You understood them?” Misono asked, and Lily flashed a secretive smile. 

 

“French _is_ the language of love, of course,” he said, and Misono scowled at him. 

 

“You’re the Servamp of  _ Lust,  _ stupid!” he barked, and Lily laughed. 

 

“I’m joking. But, I lived in Lyon long before I was contracted into your family,” he explained. 

 

Misono blinked. “I didn’t know about that- why didn’t you tell me?” 

 

A flash of hurt flickered over Lily’s face. “I’d rather not be reminded of that much blood ever again,” he said simply, before reaching for his water. Misono sighed in silent understanding, before looking back over to where Mahiru was yelling at both of the Greed pair for the ruckus, though only one of them looked sheepish in any fashion. 

 

***

 

That night- or early morning, rather, long after the adventure that was trying to get four very different people asleep in one room together- Licht was curled on his side facing the wall, comfortable until shuffling from behind him rattled him from sleep. Groggily emerging from the blanket tugged over his head, he squinted over his shoulder at a fuzzy figure as his temper slowly started to boil.  

 

The figure froze upon hearing Licht shift, and knelt down toward him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you,” Hyde hummed, and faintly, in some part of his brain that was awake, Licht registered that he must be leaving for his shift. “I know firsthand how cranky you can get when you don’t get your angelic rest.” His grin glowed crookedly in the low light of the room.

 

Licht rolled back over and burrowed further into his blanket. “Jus’ hurry up and come back,” he mumbled, more to the wall than anything. 

 

Hyde laughed wispily to himself. “I won’t be long; and it’s not as if you’ll miss me anyway.” 

 

“Let me sleep, stupid Hyde,” Licht muttered, navy exhaustion tugging him back into his warm embrace like the lovely bass notes of a piano. He didn’t hear Hyde’s reply as he sank back into darkness, but he swore he heard a faint response and the feeling of fingers running gently through his hair; he thought it the touch of an angel, some dream-thing conjured by exhaustion. (He inevitably forgot about it in the morning as he always did.) 

 

\--------

 

The sound of a scream like a gunshot-

 

_ Rewind  _

 

The cruelty of green on red on beating white, the scent of flowers curdling in the air-

 

_ Rewind  _

 

The snap of a chain lost in confusion, the feeling of helplessness scraped from the barren edges of the soul-

 

_ Rewind, rewind, rewind- a few hours before.  _

 

“I think we’re being followed,” Mahiru said bluntly, interrupting a rather devoted argument about the correct name of a particular popsicle- “ _ They’re Freeze Pops.” “No you idiot, they’re called  _ **_Freezie Tubes!_ ** _ ” “Well that just sounds stupid, brother”-  _ while out on an amenity trip. (Licht had learned that it wasn’t just his own Servamp that had an impulsive need to shower multiple times a day, which had spawned a yelling match earlier that day between Kuro and Mahiru about  _ shampoo  _ of all things.) 

 

Licht looked up from his phone absently as Mahiru stopped abruptly, hand reaching out to snag at Kuro’s arm, who turned away from bickering with his brother to find the source of Mahiru’s discomfort. “I don’t sense anyone nearby,” Kuro said, tilting his head to listen. “Do you hear anything, Lawless?” 

 

Hyde focused for a moment, only to scrunch his nose. “I can’t catch anything over the noise of the bugs and the wind,” he admitted, and Licht huffed. 

 

“Of course not, useless hedgehog,” he muttered, lips twisting into a grin as Hyde whined magnificently, throwing his hands down at his sides like a child throwing a tantrum. 

 

“Hey, I’m being serious,” Mahiru pressed, tightening his fingers in Kuro’s coat. Licht watched as Kuro turned to face him, scanning him, looking generally attentive, as opposed to Hyde, who was distracted by the hubbub of people on the other side of the street from them. 

 

“Did you see something?” Kuro asked, and Mahiru shook his head. 

 

“It’s more like I  _ feel _ something’s off, like someone’s nearby,” he continued, releasing Kuro’s sleeve to tuck his arms around himself. “It’s kinda like whenever the Hunting Dogs are in work mode; it feels like that.” 

 

Kuro knit his eyebrows. “Are you sure?” 

 

Mahiru nodded, vehement. “I keep thinking if I look into one of these alleys quickly enough, I’ll catch a glimpse of them staring at me.” 

 

“I wouldn’t discredit the instincts of an Eve,” Hyde said soberly, “and especially Sleepy Ash’s at that. Do you think it could be the subclasses Old Child warned you about?” 

 

“Oh, shit,” Kuro muttered eloquently as Mahiru’s mind clicked, registering transparently enough that Licht could see it on his face. 

 

“We should just get back to the hot springs  and skip the mess altogether,” Licht suggested, not wanting to bother with combat today if it really wasn’t necessary. 

 

Hyde’s eyes flickered over to him.  _ Well, that’s a rather Sloth-like response coming from you.  _

 

Licht scoffed, eyes skipping back down to his phone.  _ Needless paranoia is useless, and fighting someone on the street would just make the situation far worse.  _

 

Hyde clicked his tongue, hands sliding into his pockets. “Damn, I hate when you’re right,” he complained. 

 

“You should already be used to that,” Licht said dryly, ignoring the aghast look Hyde shot him. 

 

“You two have been doing that a lot more recently,” Kuro said rhetorically as Mahiru started walking forward again, though Kuro’s eyes were focused on them even as he robotically followed Mahiru. 

 

“Doing what?” Hyde asked, playing dumb, but was caught as Kuro gave him a flat, disapproving stare and Licht snorted. 

 

“You suck at lying,” Licht said as he pocketed his phone and slid his hands in his sweatshirt pocket, eyes skipping over the streetside scenery behind them. 

 

“You’re using your bond to communicate instead of speaking,” Kuro steamrolled, and Hyde blew out an irritated breath that colored the back of Licht’s mind a matching shade of rusty gold. 

 

“I dunno why,” Hyde answered, a faint bite of unwarranted annoyance in his words that made even Licht faintly knit his eyebrows. 

 

“Ya don’t need to snap at me; ‘s not like I was yelling at you or anything,” Kuro chastised, “I was just curious. I’ll get snips of words and thoughts here and there, but it’s normally just colors and the vague shape of feelings while it seems you two are having full conversations.” 

 

“It got worse after he lost his Jinn,” Licht filled in absently, ignoring Hyde’s squawk of  _ What do you mean  _ **_worse?_ ** __ “Kranz said it might be an overreaction to that.”

 

Mahiru hummed a thoughtful  _ oh!  _ as Kuro gnawed at his lip, hands twisting at the fabric in his pockets. Licht side-eyed him, suspicion swelling darkly at the back of his mind. A touch at his shoulder pulled his eyes off of Kuro and back to Hyde, whose own eyes were saying  _ don’t.  _ Licht huffed and shrugged, uninterested, ignoring Hyde’s wary expression. 

 

The walk continued in silence until a body stumbled out from one of the nearby alleys, the smell of blood wafting heavily coupled with the sound of labored breath. Mahiru instantly lurched forward to catch them before they fell to their knees, a hand hooking around their arms and weaving behind their back. “Are you okay?” rushed from Mahiru’s mouth as the girl- upon closer inspection- shivered, her shirt and face soaked in blood. 

 

Hyde dropped to her side and reached for what looked to be the source of blood at her neck, but she swatted him away. “Woah, ‘m not gonna hurt you,” he placated, holding his hands up, and Licht rolled his eyes, tugging him away from her by the back of his shirt. 

 

“What happened?” Licht asked forwardly, leaning down toward her. 

 

“I don’t-“ she hiccuped, chest lurching- “I don’t really know; there was this boy who- he- he had-“

 

“Hey, take a breath, it’s okay,” Mahiru soothed, and she choked a sob, grinding the heels of her hands into her eyes. 

 

“Mahiru,” Kuro said lowly, and by the way Mahiru’s shoulders flinched before his eyes shifted over to Kuro, a silent exchange was passing between them. Mahiru’s fingers tightened around the girl, and Kuro huffed. 

 

“Do we need to take you to the hospital?” Mahiru asked gently, jumping when she shrieked. 

 

_ “No!  _ No, don’t let them touch me!” she cried, burying her face into his shirt. Mahiru blinked confusedly, but reciprocated nonetheless. 

 

“Did that boy do something to you?” Mahiru continued, cautious. 

 

She shuddered. “He- he-“ she gestured at her neck, not moving her face but clamping at her throat. “I don’t remember how he found me, but he just- his  _ teeth-  _ and he just  _ bit me  _ and tried to take me somewhere but I-“ she burst into tears and leaned further into Mahiru, enough, to knock him fully onto the ground this time with her in his arms. 

 

_ A vampire?  _

 

Licht saw Hyde stiffen, but it was Kuro who bristled uneasily as he took in the sight of the crying girl, his reaction setting off alarm bells in Licht’s mind. 

 

_ I think- _

 

_ Yeah, something’s off- subclasses don’t usually attack without orders,  _ Hyde finished, the glint of his rings catching in the corner of Licht’s eye as his rubbed at them. 

 

“Where did it happen? Just down there?” Mahiru pressed, pointing down the alley, ignoring Kuro’s snap of his name. 

 

The girl nodded, lifting her head until her face was hidden by blood-crusted tangles of dark hair. “I escaped through there; I remember being in the greenhouse but not going there in the first place.” She sniffed, rubbing at her face with one hand before fisting the other in her skirts pooled messily around her legs. “I can- I can take you there, and maybe you can- can find him.” 

 

_ Licht, I don’t trust her.  _

 

_ Mahiru seems to, though,  _ Licht countered, and Hyde sighed deeply as he watched him help the girl to her feet. 

 

_ Yeah, but you know the kid- look up ‘benefit of the doubt’ and you’ll find a picture of him next to it. He’s always gotta be the hero... _

 

“It’s just around the corner, right?” Mahiru said, looking over to Kuro, who only kissed his teeth and looked away. “Then let’s go check it out before we head back.” 

 

“Ya sure you wanna do that?” Hyde asked loudly, shrugging when Mahiru shot him a look as the girl flinched. “That kid’s probably not gonna be there anyway.” 

 

“It’s worth trying,” Mahiru fired back stubbornly, and Hyde sighed deeply. 

 

“Let’s just get it over with and go back,” Licht said flatly, slipping his hands into his pockets. “It’s getting late and I’m tired.” 

 

“Aw, the poor little angel needs his rest?” Hyde teased, dodging both the predictable scowl and kick that came his way with the bark of a laugh. 

 

“Guys,  _ enough,”  _ Mahiru admonished icily, the girl wrapping her arms around Mahiru’s and burying her face in his chest; he seemed unfazed by it. “Let’s go, before it’s too late.” There was no room in his response for a  _ no.  _

 

There was a collective understanding of Mahiru’s obstinance and the repercussions of ignoring him, and the other three filed suit as Mahiru asked for the girl to guide him. 

 

As they they made their way through the narrow alley, Licht looked back, stomach dropping in apparent tandem with Hyde, forcing it back as he turned back forward to follow; Licht ignored what felt like fingers grazing his arm, as if someone was looking for something to hold onto. 

 

_ (There’s no one else on the street.  _

 

_ I know. _

 

_ I don’t like this. _

 

_...I know.) _

 

***

 

The greenhouse in question actually ended up being the back storage area for a small flower shop, closed only an hour before. Even so, there were lights on inside, though the shades were drawn. 

 

Though its frame spoke of small comforts, something dark seeped from inside it-

The hair on the back of Licht’s neck stood up. 

 

_ Stay alert,  _ he whispered, and felt the immediate rush of  _ yes  _ from Hyde, who looked perfectly relaxed and unbothered. The fingers fidgeting in his pockets spoke of the opposite, though only Licht would notice. 

 

“The side doors, there,” the girl whispered, pointing to the small set of double doors in the misted glass just around the side of the main shop; her arm was shaking, and Licht watched as Mahiru’s face twisted into one of empathy before sharpening in determination.

 

“Stay behind me,” he directed to her, and she nodded, releasing his arm. As Mahiru reached for the door, Licht felt Hyde shift until he was just behind Licht, eyes alert and cautious; Kuro looked similarly aware, though there was a touch of latent annoyance in his actions. 

 

The door creaked open, and the scent of humid air and  _ earth  _ overwhelmed Licht. Shaking away the urge to sneeze, he followed Mahiru as they crept into the greenhouse. For a storage unit of a small shop, it was larger than Licht expected, with two floors and a tall ceiling; it was perfectly manicured and kept with care, with spots and bunches of color grouped carefully together amongst the green of the other leaves and vines twining and stretching through the room. Licht couldn’t remember the names of most of them, recognizing a few here and there with disinterest as they wove their way through. He turned back when he felt Hyde pause behind him, reaching out out to a shelf where a planter of bright purple flowers glowed in the final rays of the evening as they refracted through the glass ceiling. 

 

The flowers may have been lovely, but the expression on Hyde’s face was anything but, the smile there a nasty juxtaposition of amusement and hatred. 

 

His fingers stretched out as if to touch them, but Licht clicked his tongue in irritation, and Hyde faintly flinched. He retracted his hand the second he saw Licht staring at him, and flashed a grin that was ninety-nine percent a toothy lie and the lingering one percent something he couldn’t identify.

 

“This way,” a voice interrupted, and they both turned to see the girl gesturing toward the row of shelves toward the darker end of the greenhouse. 

 

(No one noticed as the doors were sealed shut with curling vines, slithering and unearthly.)

 

The next few steps were silent, the metronome of a heart waiting to plummet, when the sound of something from above made Licht freeze; the others paused as well, but the girl kept walking, making her way toward the shelves, and he thought it seemed as if she’d straightened up a bit until the shadow swallowed her. 

 

Another click and a thud, until a pair of footsteps made Licht reach out and yank Hyde by the shoulder until they were side by side.  _ Be ready on my count- _

“Well, it seems as if I smell the little Greedling and the Sloth Child,” a voice called from above, curling and lavish in egotism and wonderfully pleased with itself. 

 

_ “Shit,”  _ Kuro hissed as he reached out for Mahiru’s wrist, tugging him away from where he was trying to follow the girl. “I  _ warned  _ you, dammit!” 

 

Sitting on the edge of the catwalk with his legs dangling over the edge, his chin resting on his arms folded over the railing. With his mouth stretched in a grin, Licht could see the jagged edges of the fangs there, and from the elegant way he slid under the railing and landed lightly on his feet in front of them, it was obvious he held the grace of a vampire. 

 

But now that he was front of them, his eyes caught Licht’s attention- familiar blood red, but misted over in white. 

 

_ He can’t see- he’s  _ **_blind?_ **

 

“Blind from birth, before you ask,” he crowed, head tilting and smile spreading as if he could have read Licht’s mind. “It’s the one thing Tsubaki-san couldn’t fix.” He giggled before his smile dropped. “Doesn’t mean you’ll be able to hide from me, though.” 

 

“If you break them, we’ll fail our mission, Kozue,” a voice scolded, and Licht barely processed it before the entirety of the plants around him  _ rioted,  _ tying around all of their bodies and pinning them to the shelves. The girl from earlier stepped out, dragging a hand through her hair and pushing it out of her face while the other hand licked the blood from her throat off her fingers. With the act dropped, her face was placid yet tired, identical to the boy’s spare her eyes, which were clear and undamaged. 

 

_ Oh yay, twin freaks,  _ Hyde thought grumpily, but Licht could feel his mind spinning as it spiraled through multiple outcomes in a race to figure out how to fight.  _ Her speciality must be plants. Well, I feel stupid now.  _

 

_ As you should,  _ Licht retorted reflexively, using it to calm how his stomach fell as he searched for a fault in the vines around him. 

 

_ Hey, it’s not like you said anything either.  _

 

_ Shut it, hedgehog, I’m trying to think.  _

 

“I’d say it’s nice to meet you, but I’m not one to waste time with formalities,” the boy-  _ Kozue-  _ said, “so how about we skip to the fun stuff?” 

 

With that, he snapped his fingers, and the vines around the Sloth pair withered just as another set latched around their arms and threw them upwards as he jumped up to the catwalk, and Licht barely had time to  _ breathe  _ before the girl was launching toward them.  _ “Fuck-”  _ Hyde choked as she slashed at him with blades made from wicked bone, slicing his cheek and the vines around his throat. Licht swore as he saw Hyde stumble back and clumsily summon his rapier to block messily. 

 

_ Keep her busy, I can attack from behind- _

 

“Don’t think I’m stupid,” the girl said sharply as thorny stems from the roses behind Licht hooked around his ankles and tripped him, throwing him off-kilter enough to make his Lead waver. “I’m just here to clean you two up.” 

 

“What does that even  _ mean?”  _ Hyde complained as he parried, wincing as she caught him in the side,  but barely glancing off. 

 

“I have no reason to tell you,” she said simply as she whirled around and threw her blade at Licht, who dodged it just inches from catching it in the eye.  _ “Damn.” _

 

Above, Licht heard the cry of  _ Kuro!  _ and the whine of an energy-lined chain erupting from Mahiru’s wrist, feeling the power ripple through the air as Kozue swore loudly.  _ Good- they were able to summon the contract.  _

 

_ Give me your arm, you stupid angel!  _ Hyde barked, side-stepping her fresh rush of hyacinth-laden vines and stretching out his arm in an attempt to reach Licht. 

 

_ Don’t tell me what to do!  _ Licht reached out and pulled the shelf nearest to him over, shoving it toward her and forcing her vines to crowd and knot around each other to protect her in an attempt to reach Hyde. The attempt was disrupted when the flurry of confused flora suddenly withered and disintegrated, forcing the shelf to tilt and crash the other way and separate the two.  _ Shit! _

 

“What was that about watching yourself, Kohana?” Kozue called, and Licht saw him dodge Mahiru as his spear swiped over his head. 

 

“Says the one who failed to keep  _ their _ pair apart,” she quipped as she stepped on the edge of the fallen shelf and jumped, inhuman strength her springboard as she tackled Hyde bodily to the ground with her knife to his throat. 

 

_ “Oi,  _ little help here, please!” Hyde wheezed as she straddled him, struggling to keep him still. Licht summoned a line of piano keys and stomped on the two under his feet, the chord rippling through the rest of the line and yanking her off of Hyde as the piano curled around her legs and threw her into another line of shelves. “You know, I’m all for being straddled and slammed into the ground, but knives are usually a no-no,” Hyde said sarcastically as he pulled himself. “Nice aim, by the way.” 

 

“Naturally,” Licht retorted, and Hyde rolled his eyes. 

 

A sudden yell and the rush of fifteen shelves-worth of plants violently rushing toward the two cut the banter, and Licht blocked most of the blow with a freshly-summoned wave of piano keys. “If you’re going to bite me,  _ get to it,” _ Licht said bitterly as Kohana shoved harshly against his own power, making him wince. He held out his arm wordlessly, and Hyde- though the grin on his face was one of glee- pushed a spark of concern into Licht’s head as his fingers clamped around his wrist, shucking up his sleeve.  _ You’re not going to break me just because your power’s out of whack- just fucking do it! _

 

A pulse of a heartbeat before the feeling of teeth sank into the soft skin of his forearm, and Licht’s mind  _ burned  _ in what he could only describe as  _ hellfire.  _

 

_ “Hyde!”  _

 

They were bodies electric as the contract solidified with a bone-shaking rattle of iron in Licht’s ears, clamping around his ankle and hooking into Hyde’s neck. Like a dam opened, their connection spread like wildfire until raw power rushed between them, starving and deadly; the rush of their connection rippled around them in a wave of violet-gold, hitting Kohana heavily enough to disrupt her own attack. 

 

The connection- already intoxicating before Hyde lost his Jinn- was twice as potent and unsteady now with the fracture marks forcing unregulated power between them. Licht felt spaces of his soul he hadn’t realized were cold suddenly fever-hot, and swallowed a half-giddy gasp that flashed in the identical grin both of them shared. 

 

Deadly and wild-

And it felt  _ good.  _

 

“Oh, god, that feels  _ amazing,”  _ Hyde groaned as he rolled his neck, shaking out his hands, and Licht didn’t feel the need to respond in the way his heart hammered in agreement. 

 

“Shit,” Kohana rasped as she forced herself to stand, hair frizzy and blood streaking down her face. 

 

Licht flexed his fingers before tucking them into his pockets, his Lead flickering and crackling to life around his feet in time to the sound of a sword being drawn. 

 

_ Ready? I don’t think she’s too happy with us right now. _

 

_ Don’t run your mouth, stupid rat.  _

 

That sparked a smirk that flickered over Hyde’s face, and they both surged forward toward her in the same breath, already in perfect coordination. 

 

Though his chest twisted uncomfortably at the memory of the battle with Tsubaki’s second, his body remembered the way to swing behind as Hyde feinted, ready to catch Kohana in the side of the head with his boot, but- 

 

_ “Licht!”  _ Hyde yelled as she summoned a rope of azaleas to tie around Licht’s ankle and threw him toward the windows. The impact rattled through his bones, forcing a groan from his lips as pain burst through his back as he collapsed onto the ground.  _ Fuck,  _ **_fuck-_ ** _ Higan must’ve given them intel on us-  _

 

Sliding to his knees, Licht spit the dirt from his mouth as he forced himself to stand, world tilting from the blow to his head. Something in the attack and the flurry of assault from Kohana rattled something loose in their bond, and Licht winced as a torrent of concern and something else deeply rooted Hyde’s mind spilled into his own, over-bright and sharp: 

 

_ Up, up up-  _

_ Shit, he’ll be fine, I’ve done worse to him than that-  _

_ But no, not when I- _

_ Fuck, it hurts, I don’t think I can- _

 

Licht’s breath caught painfully in his chest as he was nearly incapacitated by the overwhelming torrent of heart, but he shook it off as he numbly caught their chain between his hands and  _ yanked,  _ pulling Hyde out of the way just as she swung another blow toward his face with her knives. “I’m fine-  _ you _ need to focus,” Licht spit venomously, and Hyde’s eyes went wide. 

 

“I-” Hyde started, but Licht cut him off as he tugged him around the corner another row of shelves, hands slipping back into his pockets. 

 

“She makes them grow, he makes them die- we just need to exacerbate the two until they cancel each other out,” Licht said, looking behind them just as she slid around the corner in a wave of green, irritation flat on her face.  _ Wear her out.  _

 

Hyde nodded before slipping his cocky persona back on and stepping in front of Licht, rapier spinning back to life around his fingers. A hum sounded from around them as more piano keys twined their way through the shelves and shot across the floor, a patchwork of black and white. Her feet hit the first few keys- a high and shrieking G and its sharp- and the unanimous thought of  _ GO!  _ sounded through their bond, the gold-violet of the chain flickering as it twisted through the aisle. 

 

Licht focused solely on the keys under his feet as Hyde caught the frontal assault, countering and dodging enough that Licht could hear her exhausted cries of irritation.  _ Left foot, right, twist-  _ the rippling sound threw her off as it reverberated loudly around them, making the plants flinch as Licht summoned as much energy as he could.  _ Make it loud enough that the angels in Heaven above and the Demons down under the sea can’t deny me-  _

 

The recomposed symphony sounded through the whole greenhouse, and Licht drank in the feeling of it sapping at her energy, reveling in the awe that burned its way through Hyde, only pouring more power into Licht like an oil fire. 

 

“My  _ head,  _ make it  _ stop!”  _ Kozue shrieked from above them, and Licht looked up to see him clamping ears. Licht kept playing, summoning a smaller keyboard to curl around him, fitting his fingers onto the keys and playing in eerie harmony to double the sound, smirking as Kozue screamed louder. Kohana winced but kept going, ears not as sensitive as she tried to messily throw one of her knives toward Licht. Hyde caught it in the shoulder instead, and Licht stuttered at the shock of shared pain before continuing.  

 

_ Keep playing!- it doesn’t hurt,  _ Hyde insisted as he tore the blade from his shoulder and threw it as hard as he could until it clattered on the opposite side of the greenhouse, far from her reach. She snarled at him, switching her remaining knife to her other hand as a whirlwind of begonias surged from behind her toward them. 

 

It was then that Licht slammed all of his energy on the final white key, and the blaring shriek of a piercing C8 reverberated through the room loudly enough to make the windows shake and creak. The plants recoiled from the sound as both of the subclasses stuttered to a stop like broken clockwork. Hyde stumbled back away from her as she swiped her knife wildly toward him, face contorted in pain, and Licht felt vicious pride in the tears that were streaming down her face. 

 

Both Hyde and Licht winced, however, when an ungodly wail sounded from above as Kozue fell to his knees, clutching his head, the sound making every plant in the twist and start to wither- 

 

Until every last one was dead, brown and lifeless, and both siblings were rendered powerless. 

 

Licht released the key and let it echo, but the pause was enough for Kuro to flare wickedly black wings from his coat tails as Mahiru rushed forward, and the resounding sound of barbs releasing and the blow of Mahiru’s spear rattled the catwalk as Kozue fell flat on his face, out cold. 

 

_ One down, one to go-  _

 

_ “Kozue!”  _ Kohana cried, looking up to where Kuro caught an unsteady Mahiru by the arm. She whipped her head toward the Greed pair, where Licht was slowly unwinding all of the fading strips of piano as Hyde rubbed at his injured shoulder.  _ “You piece of-”  _

 

Licht barely blinked before she charged at them, aiming for Licht but getting Hyde’s foot in her chest instead as he launched her backwards, crashing into the far wall of shelves hard enough that they collapsed on top of her. They crashed and rattled obnoxiously, but Licht didn’t see her legs move after the fact.

 

“Are you guys okay?” Mahiru called, leaning over the railing, and Hyde shot them a thumbs up. Licht rolled his eyes. 

 

“Nothing my little angel can’t handle,” Hyde teased, earning a foot in the ass. 

 

“Shut up so we can leave before more subclasses come sniffing,” Licht quipped, rolling back his shoulders to test for pain. His head throbbed, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t deal with. (He could feel Hyde’s cautious check-over seeping through their still-active bond, firefly bright and gentle touches tickling down his spine; it wasn’t unpleasant, Licht came to realize, and so he didn’t shut it out.) 

 

“Can you get us down?” Mahiru asked, turning to Kuro, who gave him a  _ duh  _ expression before looping an arm around Mahiru’s waist and jumping down, carefully landing them both an aisle down from Licht and Hyde. 

 

Licht heard them babble at each other- though it was more Mahiru anxiously asking Kuro if he was alright and apologizing vehemently- and let out a low breath, feeling the bond coil and release with his lungs. “Let’s go,” he said, starting to move, when the shift of a sound screeched from across the room. All four of them whipped their heads toward the sound, and Licht reached for Hyde’s arm-  _ why isn’t he moving away?-  _ before the bond soured and scorched him, making him recoil. “What the  _ fuck-”  _

 

_ Don’t touch me  _

_ Don’t touch me  _

_ DON’T TOUCH ME _

 

The words echoed painfully in Licht’s mind just as Hyde stumbled back from Licht and froze, his  _ breath  _ stopping before jerky hands forced their way to his chest. “Sh-” 

 

“Don’t move,” a voice hissed, and Licht looked to see Kohana had extricated herself from the shelves, torn and bloodied but sharp victory bright on her face as the hand in front of her curled into a fist and Hyde choked wetly. “Lucky that there was still  _ something _ left for me to use,” she wheezed to herself before jerking her hand back, and Hyde fell to his knees. 

 

Licht reached out to catch him, but was forced back by a visceral flood of fear ringing through bond violently enough it made their chain rattle unsteadily and burn gold. “Licht-san? What’s going on?” Mahiru yelled, but something rooted Licht to the ground as he watched Hyde scratch at his throat, blood suddenly staining his shirt as perfectly round leaves and vines forced their way out of his chest, fanning out and spreading with unbloomed buds.   _ What? What the hell is happening-? _

 

They curled and twisted, bursting through Hyde’s skin and twining harshly around him like snakes hissing and dancing as they crawled through the skin of his back and his chest before they jerked forward with a snap and wet shriek from Hyde that made Licht gasp. _His ribs- they broke through his_ ** _ribs,_** he thought as Hyde doubled over, holding himself up with the shelf next to him as white-hot pain that wasn’t his own flared through him.

 

“You killed my brother,” Kohana whispered, walking forward, fingers tightening enough that Hyde contorted, hands scrabbling at his throat as Licht felt the burning need to  _ breathe. (He isn’t dead- Mahiru doesn’t kill-)  _ Licht was overwhelmed with confusion and fear and  _ pain,  _ and he couldn’t decipher which was his own before small buds of anger sparked in his chest as she lifted her chin to glare down at Hyde. “You  _ killed him.”  _

 

_ No.  _

_ Don’t touch him, you piece of shit-  _

 

“I hope you choke to death,” she spat as she opened her fist, and Hyde froze as a single purple blossom forced its way out of his mouth, blood pooling in its petals before spilling down his chin. 

 

Then he collapsed bonelessly on the cement, unmoving and  _ cold,  _ and the chain shuddered apart as Licht was left with nothing but silence and a single point of  _ rage.  _

 

By the time she looked back up to Licht, ready to attack him, a glittering black piano had already materialized in the space of the aisle. “What the hell-?” 

 

_ You won’t touch him  _

_ No one will- _

 

Licht fit his fingers to the keys, robotically spacing them over the humming and crackling ivory, before he slammed them as hard as he could. 

 

_ No one but me _

 

The rush of  _ rage  _ that flooded his veins made his blood boil, and his wrath made the refrain he played morph into that of a demonic organ instead of a piano, recomposed from the bones of a possessive flame he hadn’t known existed until the chords grew louder and  _ sharper.  _

 

_ Harder _

 

A violent chord-

 

_ Louder _

 

Another, dissonance swallowing his ears as his fingers went numb from their pressure on the keys- 

 

_ Higher _

 

A final chord, louder than anything he’d ever played in his life and five times as dissonant, an angry and ugly cluster of knifepoint sounds that could hardly be considered  _ notes  _ drank up the sound of Kohana’s screams of anguish and twisted them even- Licht couldn’t see anything but  _ red.  _

 

_ The Phantom of the Opera is here-  _

**_Inside your mind._ **

 

_ “-cht! Licht!  _ Stop!  _ Stop!”  _ The voice forced itself through Licht’s mind as his fingers started to ache. “She’s not breathing-  _ stop!”  _

 

Arms suddenly locked around his chest and yanked him backward, forcing his hands away from the piano and silencing the chord, though the notes rang through the room, in his  _ head.  _ “Let  _ go  _ of me,” Licht heard himself say, but every word was wavering and distant and he didn’t feel rooted to himself. 

 

“Oh god, Kuro, she’s bleeding out of her  _ ears,”  _ came the voice again, and Licht reminded himself that he recognized the voice.  _ That’s right- Mahiru and Kuro are here.  _

 

“Leave her- get Lawless,” Kuro called, arms loosening around Licht. “I don’t think Licht’s going to be walking.” 

 

_ I can walk, what are you talking about?  _ Licht thought, trying to step forward, only for his legs to give out and force Kuro to catch him.  _ Hyde- where’s Hyde?  _

 

“He’s right there,” Kuro mumbled, and Licht blinked, unfocused and confused as his mouth ran unchecked. “We’re going back to the hot springs now to get help, so calm down.” 

 

The last thing Licht was able to register was the image of Hyde curled on his side, the vines emerging from his skin hissing and boiling away until nothing but blood was spilling from his wounds. 

_ I’m going to kill him-  _

_ He can’t die on me _

_ I don’t care if he’s a vampire, I’m going to murder him if he dies  _

_ If  _

_ If he  _

 

Darkness, hot and heavy as it pounded in his wounds overtook Licht, and he slumped to the floor. 

 

_ (“Shit- call Doudou and tell him to get the hell over here!”  _

 

_ “But what about the subclasses?”  _

 

_ “Tsubaki can fucking come get them, I don’t give a shit- just call him,  _ **_now!_ ** _ ” ) _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, boys, I really DON'T hate you- I promise! 
> 
> Fun fact: what Licht violently played at the end is from the ending of Music of the Night, aka the part that makes me shit myself every damn time because it goes from soft, trailing tenor notes to ANGRY, SEXUALLY REPRESSED ORGAN SCREAMING IN YOUR EARS


	4. I Remember/Stranger Than You Dreamt It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secrets come to light, twisted by stubborn blight and the curse of misunderstandings not bothered to be corrected.   
> (Stubborn pride, stubborn heart, stubborn roots.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got nothing witty to say, other than that Licht is an idiot sometimes.   
> A musical prodigy? Yes.   
> Dense as a brick wall at times? Also yes.   
> But does Hyde correct him?   
> Well..... nope.

_ A spot of orange. Then, it burned gold, painful and glaring, until it morphed into a single molten eye that blinked, and then it was the color of blood.  _

 

_ Tears, welling and hurt, before they fell and bled into the leaves of a purple bloom, lovely but razor sharp as it sliced into his ribs, hungry and desperate and unyielding, and he heard the words  _ **_I’m so sorry_ ** _ before-  _

 

Licht lurched upright with a gasp that devolved into a loud _F_ _ uck!  _ as pain tore up his sides and erupted in his head. “Woah, woah, slow down,” a voice chastised as Licht clutched at his head, sinking his teeth into his lip as he willed the pain to recede. It burned up his spine and the back of his skull, pulsing, before slowly dulling to a light ache. “Don’t force yourself, okay? It’s been a few days,” Mahiru said gently, hands reaching to keep Licht from moving. Licht scowled at him and swat his hands away, trying to familiarize himself with his surroundings. 

 

From the bamboo-slanted windows and rice screen walls, he was obviously still at the hot springs, but the stinging smell of something medicinal beside him and the painfully white sheets around his waist told him he was most likely in a clinic of some sort, or a makeshift one at that. “What happened?” he muttered, scrunching his nose when he tasted how vile his mouth was. 

 

Mahiru shifted uncomfortably, hands toying at his pants. “Um, well-” 

 

“Just spit it out,” Licht groused tiredly, and Mahiru sighed. 

 

“We were all able to get out of that greenhouse, and I called Doudou to come pick us up,” he started, before pausing, blowing out a deep breath. “Do you….remember what you did?” 

 

Licht crossed his arms, reflecting. He remembered Kozue being incapacitated, and remembered trapping Kohana underneath the shelves, but then his memory shifted, fracturing; green and red- no,  _ blood,  _ and the feeling of piano keys under his fingers and-  _ Hyde.  _ “Where’s that shitty hedgehog?” he blurted, louder than he realized as Mahiru jumped. 

 

“Licht-san-” 

 

_ “Where is he?”  _ Licht barked, trying to force himself up, only for the combined effort of his back burning and Mahiru’s forceful hands pushing him back down. 

 

“If you  _ stay put,  _ I will  _ tell you,”  _ Mahiru directed, retracting his hands but holding his eye, not looking away. Licht ground his teeth but ceded, tying his fingers bitterly in the sheets. Quietly, a small part of his mind was reaching out, searching for the other side of the bond, but coiled around nothing but cold blue silence. “After we defeated Kozue, we tried to leave, thinking that Kohana was down as well-” 

 

“I remember  _ that,”  _ Licht snapped flatly, and Mahiru gave him a stern look that made Licht bristle. 

 

“She  _ wasn’t,  _ and when she used Hyde as her power source, you went kinda…” Mahiru’s face twisted as he tried to ineloquently describe him, hands wheeling over each other, and Licht stared at him. “You started playing so  _ violently  _ that she started screaming, and she was bleeding from her ears before she just collapsed; I thought she was dead, but-” 

 

“You said  _ power source,”  _ Licht interrupted, throwing Mahiru off-guard. “What do you mean?” Mahiru blinked, opening his mouth to say something, to object, before closing it and shaking his head. “Tell me,” Licht pressed, and Mahiru sighed uneasily. 

 

“Hyde… well, he recovered way before you, but he’s…” Mahiru trailed off, turning his train of thought around in his hands to try and pick the right angle to lead with. 

 

“He’s  _ what?  _ He has to be here, or else I wouldn’t be alive,” Licht said, and Mahiru winced. 

 

“He’s sick,” Mahiru eventually settled on, bracing himself. 

 

Licht blinked. “Sick,” he parroted dumbly. Mahiru nodded. “That’s stupid; Servamps can’t get  _ sick.”  _

 

“This is a special case, Licht-san,” Mahiru insisted, frustration seeping into his tone as Licht grew more irritated. 

 

Licht laughed dryly. “Then you better give me a damn good explanation,” he said tersely, “because if you’re trying to cover for him being a useless shit then I-” 

 

“He has  _ Hanahaki!” _ Mahiru yelled, eyes widening just a fraction in surprise at his own voice before solidifying into his particular brand of stubbornness. “How  _ else  _ do you explain what happened to him in the greenhouse?” 

 

Licht squinted, mind not computing as it slipped on the translation. “Hana….haki? What is that?” 

 

Mahiru gaped at him. “Do you not know what that is?” 

 

“I don’t recognize it,” he said, frowning. “Is it some disease you can only get in Japan?” He was still dubious, disbelieving, and still subconsciously searching for a hint that Hyde was conscious. 

 

Mahiru shifted, trying to find an explanation, unaware of how irritation burned its way through Licht as his hands grew more and more fidgety. “It’s universal, I think, so there must be a version in Austria,” he started, tugging at his lip. “It’s the flower disease, the one that chokes you to death?” 

 

_ Flowers? _

 

“It’s supposedly caused by unrequited love, but I don’t know accurate that is; all I know is that it’s fatal in humans, at least.” 

 

_ Unrequited love- an echo never answered, a broken chord, the shattered wings of a dove, the sound of a blade hitting an execution block….  _

**_Ophelia._ **

 

A spark of burnt orange burst into life just behind his breast bone as if answering Licht’s thought, and the breath in his lungs hitched for just a second as he felt the connection between them surge back into life. 

 

_ “Of course,”  _ Licht spit to himself, venom-silver words sharp in German as he shoved the covers off of him. 

 

“Wait, no, you can’t, you have a  _ concussion-”  _

 

“He’s awake, and I’m going to go talk to him,” he said bluntly as he forced himself up, wobbling when the blood in his head drained the second his tired legs hit the ground. Mahiru lurched forward to steady him, yanking his hands back when Licht hissed a  _ don’t touch me.  _

 

“Licht-san, you need to  _ rest-”  _

 

“I am an  _ angel,  _ I don’t  _ need  _ to rest for something as minor as this,” he retorted, numbly making his way to the door and slamming it shut in Mahiru’s face. He ignored the muted yelling behind him as he made his way down the hall, letting their bond serve as a beacon to guide him back, head swimming as steam and the perfumed air hit him all at once. 

 

Now that he was alone and his feet were on semi-autopilot, his mind flickered back to old stories he used to read, echoing back to him in his parents' voices; bogeymen and demons, monsters and evil witches who hunted for evil children- the one that he remembered the most vividly was of a boy whose thumbs were cut off because he wouldn’t stop sucking them- until one particular fable settled in the pit of his stomach like a rock: 

 

The story of the man who fell in love with a beautiful witch, who cursed him for his lust with horrible flowers that forced him to choke on his own blood-stained vomit until it was nothing but thorns and petals. 

_ Teufelblume, the Devil Flower- you absolute  _ **_moron_ ** _! _

 

Down two hallways and past one massive garden-  _ “It’s quiet and secluded, which means it’s perfect for hiding from that angelic wrath of yours-”  _ and Licht found the section where their suite was. By the time he reached it, his head was throbbing and his legs were complaining at him. He hooked a finger in the door and slid it open, not caring at it banged in the frame as he marched his way in. 

 

“Oh, you’re awake,” Kuro called from where he was lying on the ground, apparently in a conversation with Lily, who looked more pale than Licht remembered. 

 

“And should be resting,” Lily added pointedly, but Licht ignored them as he made his way to the other side of the room, yanking open the door to see- 

 

Hyde, tangled in his futon but stretched out on his stomach as he tapped tiredly at his phone screen. His glasses were off, and he squinted at Licht through messy bangs, a white patch on his cheek crinkling as he suddenly broke into a grin.“Oh look, he’s alive,” he joked, voice rough and scratchy as if he’d been swallowing sandpaper. 

 

Anger welled up in old wounds as Licht heard the familiar flippant tone. “Explain,” he demanded, letting the door fall shut behind him. 

 

Hyde knit his eyebrows. “Explain what? You were there,” he deflected, and Licht made a noise of irritation. 

 

“The  _ Teufelblume,  _ you idiot,” he said, heart twisting as Hyde’s face fell,  _ “Explain.”  _

 

“It’s called Hanahaki here,” Hyde corrected, and Licht’s stomach dropped as his response confirmed what he dreaded. 

 

“I don’t give a  _ damn _ what it’s called,” he said bitterly, anger starting to boil under his skin in shades of toadstool'd red-white at the back of both their minds. 

 

“I’m  _ fine, _ Lich-tan, you don’t need to worry,” Hyde said, carefully sliding up to sitting with a wince; as the blankets fell away, Licht was met with bandages tied around his ribs and wounds scattered over his back and chest, dark bruises blooming over pale skin; his left shoulder was heavily patched from the knife wound, thick and stark white.  _ ‘Recovered’ my  _ **_ass._ **

 

“I’m not  _ worried,” _ Licht said, but some small part of him shrieked  _ liar!  _ in his ear, which he dutifully ignored as a fresh rush of anger made his fingers curl by his sides. “I thought you finally got over  _ Ophelia _ .” He laced as much disdain into those four syllables as he could. 

 

Hyde froze, eyes widening. “Ophelia?” he repeated quietly, shock making his voice tiny as his bravado evaporated. 

 

“She’s dead,” Licht said bluntly, “and the  _ dead _ can’t love you back. You’re letting yourself be punished because you’re  _ still  _ too stubborn to let it the  _ hell  _ go?” 

 

“Lich-tan, I think you-” Hyde tried, but Licht grit his teeth and dropped down right in front of him, eyes sharp and unyielding as he stared him down. 

 

“I’ll  _ end you _ if you think I’m going to let you try and kill yourself silently with your idiotic recklessness,” he said lowly, stupidly,  _ unfounded,  _ but something was pulling the words from him magnetically and dangerously. 

 

_ “Licht-”  _ Hyde croaked, breath crooked, but Licht’s fingers shot out and hooked in the line of the chain still around his neck; he knew that Hyde kept both of the tag’s pieces on him, coveting them quietly, a fact that made his chest burn as it juxtaposed the flowers of hypocrisy forcing their way into Hyde’s lungs. “Right now, at this moment, you are  _ mine,  _ and you are  _ yours- _ ” he twisted his fingers in the chain and pulled until their faces were inches apart- “and  _ that’s it.  _ She doesn’t own you anymore, no matter how much she did or didn’t love you- Do you understand?” 

 

Hyde coughed, wincing, and Licht smelled the flowers on his breath. “Let go, angel,” he wheezed, face flushed red. 

 

“Answer me.” 

 

_ I shouldn’t need to, as long as my name is still Hyde,  _ he answered silently, eyes locked with Licht’s. Sincerity rang in his words along with something else, but it wasn’t the prick of anger he normally expected whenever Licht brought her up. 

 

Instead, it was resigned, and almost  _ sad.   _

 

Licht released a low breath and let the chain slide from his fingers, watching as it slipped through and landed back on Hyde’s chest, silver on white. A faint scar caught his eye, which led him to another, thicker one just above the bandaging on his ribs, but he forced himself to look back up at Hyde, who was watching him with a strange expression. “I didn’t realize you’d be that worked up when you finally came to,” Hyde said with a grin, but his words were genuine, concerned, and he shifted until he was sitting his his elbows propped on his crossed legs. 

 

_ Oh. He’s not wearing any pants.  _

 

“Your idiocy gave me a fucking concussion,” Licht quipped, “and my back hurts.” 

 

Hyde held his hands up in surrender. “Hey, that was all plant-chick, not me,” he defended, and Licht stared him down determinedly deciding to keep his mind from arguing about whether to question why Hyde was only in his underwear or smack him senseless for being semi-nude in a room he shared with three other people. Hyde sighed and lowered his hands, leaning his chin into his palm. “I heard you apparently got kinda pissed after she… y’know-” he gestured to himself- “and though I kinda wish I could’ve seen it, I don’t really like the idea of you nearly killing someone.” 

 

Licht scoffed. “Says the one who killed his Eves as a  _ coping mechanism.”  _

 

Hyde shrugged. “We all have bad stages in our lives,” he said, and Licht kicked him in the thigh. 

 

“Don’t be an idiot.”  _ I’m glad you’re okay.  _

 

“Aw, but you love it!”  _ I’m sorry I worried you. _

 

“Don’t make me kill you, shitty hedgehog,” Licht said. “You still lied to me.” 

 

Hyde cocked his head. “What do you mean?” 

 

Licht’s eyes dipped back down to his chest before flickering back up to his face. “You didn’t tell me you were sick.” 

 

Hyde laughed suddenly at that, though it fizzled out into a choke by the end. “I just didn’t tell you about it; that’s not a lie,” he countered, rubbing at his chest. 

 

“Lies of omission are still lies, demon,” Licht countered, fingers twining in the line of his pants, “and it’s my duty as an angel to purge you of sin.” His response made Hyde break into more laughter, doubling over until he was bent over his legs before he let himself fall backward onto the futon, wincing as his back was shocked by the fall and elicited another bout of coughing that he smothered in his palm. “What’s so funny? I’m serious,” Licht demanded, and Hyde snickered. 

 

“I know, angel, which is  _ why  _ it’s so funny,” he said, and Licht just knit his eyebrows as Hyde kept laughing weakly.  

 

“Oi, stop laughing,” Licht complained, nudging at Hyde, who only snorted unattractively.  _ “Oi.”  _ Hyde ignored him, lost in an onslaught of giggles, and Licht sat back, unamused as a torrent of thoughts overlapped and crowded his mind. His head pounded and he let his eyes fall shut in an effort to force the pain back.

 

_ How long have you been sick? _

_ Why didn’t you tell me? _

_ Has it been this whole time? _

_ Why didn’t you tell me? _

_ Does it fade in and out?  _

**_Why didn’t you tell me?_ **

_ Will it kill you, even if you’re a vampire? _

_ Why  _

_ Didn’t _

_ You  _

_ Tell- _

 

“I didn’t tell you because I knew it’d do this to you,” Hyde said suddenly, and Licht’s eyes snapped open. “It’ll just make me miserable, but it’s not like it can kill me; like I said, I’ll be fine- I’ll get over it eventually.” 

 

Licht narrowed his eyes at him, disbelieving-

Disbelieving that Hyde  _ knew _ how Licht would react, disbelieving that he cared to that extent, disbelieving that he’d just be ‘miserable’, disbelieving he’d be  _ fine. _

 

_ He’s grandiose and overdramatic when it comes to anything else, but there’s an art in how he downplays and erases anything regarding the truth of his personal self- _

_ It’s  _ **_annoying_ ** _ and selfish. _

 

“It’s not like it’s going to affect you, if that’s what you’re worried about; besides, you’re already used to me sans-Jinn and yet you’re  _ still  _ dealing with me.” 

 

Licht didn’t say anything to that, only loudly exhaling and letting his eyes wander back to where Hyde’s chest was on display, splayed out and stretched enough that Licht could see the breaths rising and falling just behind his rib cage, expanding and making the skin shift like art in motion. There were scars littered all over, more than the ones he initially saw; some were small and white, and others were thickly raised and pink in uneven lines. The more he looked the more he found, and the more his mind whirled in curiosity.

 

“You can touch them if you want to, you know.” The sudden sound of Hyde’s voice made Licht jump as it snapped him from his reverie, face flushing. “I don’t bite. That is, unless you _ask,_ of course, to which I'd be _more_ than happy to indulge,” he added, smirking, and Licht smacked him. 

 

“Don’t be stupid,” Licht muttered, but Hyde shook his head with a laugh. 

 

“Here,” he started, reaching out for Licht’s hand and wrapping his fingers gently around his wrist and pulling it down to his chest. 

 

“What are you-?” Lich squawked, but Hyde didn’t let go. 

 

“This nasty one right here’s from an old, old fight with Sleepy Ash, back when we were both younger and still trying to focus our power,” he started, a tone filling his voice that Licht didn’t recognize; it was nostalgic, but melancholy as well. 

 

When Licht’s fingers met the overwarm skin of the scar, he didn’t jerk away-

Instead, he absently traced over it, a slice just below Hyde’s arm on his left side. 

 

“These two are from human hunters-” two grooves in the side of his arm- “and  _ these _ are from the many many times someone’s tried to stab me, which is a  _ lot _ more than you’d expect.” The latter referred to the ragged lines just under his ribcage, thick and roped. 

 

“Considering you don’t shut your mouth, the urge to stab you isn’t really that unwarranted,” Licht interrupted, and Hyde’s chest vibrated in a caught laugh. 

 

“So  _ rude, _ angel, but! I digress.” 

 

“What are the ones here from? And here?” Licht asked, barely touching the thin lines around his throat and the sides of his mouth.”  _ Why do these seem familiar? (Why am I letting him do this?) _

 

The smile Hyde gave him was pained. “You actually saw these,” he started quietly, “from when Ophelia’s guards caught me and strung me up.” Licht winced despite himself. “Y’know, I’m  _ really _ not fond of jaw blocks.” 

 

“Didn’t I just finish saying you talk too much anyway?” Licht countered, and Hyde swatted him. 

 

“Ass.” 

 

“Moron.” 

 

Hyde snickered, but Licht felt something dark bloom in his chest second-hand, dark and viscous and faintly tinged in ugly green, and a prick of hurt caught in his throat as he registered it as deep-rooted  _ guilt.  _

 

He looked back down to where Hyde’s chest was still rising and falling, and he felt the skin of his palm tingle.  _ If I pressed my hand closely enough against his chest, would I be able to feel the flowers growing under my fingers?  _

_ (How long will they be there?) _

 

“What, my sexy self too much for you?” Hyde teased as Licht fell silent. “There’s  _ much _ more to explore if you’re  _ that  _ curious.” 

 

Licht scowled before reaching for the edge of the futon and yanking it over Hyde’s face, forcing it over him. “Then how about you put on some  _ clothes,  _ you fucking pervert!” he yelled as Hyde flailed. “Is your brother rubbing off on you?” 

 

“Oh god, no, don’t compare me to All of Lo-  _ okay, stop,  _ holy fuck, I can’t  _ breathe,”  _ Hyde laugh-wheezed, and Licht let him slap the fabric off his face. The grin of victory Licht felt flicker over his face dissipated as Hyde suddenly bent over himself, forcing a palm over his mouth as a bout of horribly wet coughs racked him, thick and heavy. 

 

When they finally subsided, Hyde kept his eyes closed and struggled to catch his breath, but as he let his hand fall away from his lips, Licht saw the thick blood smeared on his skin. Before Licht could react, however, Hyde casually reached down and wiped his hand on his bandages, seemingly no worse for wear. “Don’t be disgusting,” Licht blurted dumbly, and Hyde laughed weakly, the sound crackling and flat; Licht hated it. 

 

“It’s just a little blood, angel, nothing I’m not used to, “ Hyde teased, flashing the points of his fangs, and Licht’s stomach turned. 

 

Luckily for Hyde, Mahiru violently slid open the door and interrupted any admonishment Licht could’ve summoned, bracing himself on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. “You-” he wheezed, gesturing weakly to Licht- “need to  _ rest your head,  _ idiot!” 

 

Licht clicked his tongue, and Hyde just snorted. “He has a point,” he said lightly, snickering when Licht glared at him. 

 

“You can’t start either, Hyde,” Mahiru quipped, and Hyde winced at his tone. “Do I need to tell him what you did to poor Sendagaya-san? She almost had a  _ heart attack!”  _

 

“Please don’t-” Hyde tried, but Licht looked expectantly toward him. 

 

Mahiru crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow. “He decided that- upon violently coming to- he needed to go check on you  _ immediately, _ and ended up getting lost wandering the halls half out of his mind and covered in blood because he  _ tore his damn stitches.  _ She ended up finding him and screamed loudly enough that  _ we  _ heard her, and Tetsu had to calm her down and clean up the mess.” 

 

Licht gave Hyde a disbelieving yet unamused look, but blinked when he saw that Hyde was smiling awkwardly, plucking at his bandages and looking down at his lap. Warm copper shame dripped into Licht’s mind in time to the red creeping up the back of Hyde’s neck. “What are you, stupid?” Licht asked rhetorically, and Hyde huffed a laugh. Licht could feel Hyde’s mind scrambling, trying to come up with a witty retort and utterly failing enough that it rang like broken church bells. 

 

“Oh, did you bleed through your bandages again?” Mahiru interrupted, gesturing to the spot where Hyde had just rubbed blood on his chest. “Do you need help again to redo them, or can you do it yourself before you go to work?” 

 

Just as Hyde waved off Mahiru, Licht’s eyebrows shot up incredulously as he processed Mahiru’s words. “You can’t  _ seriously _ tell me that you’re  _ working _ in this state?” Licht snapped, and Hyde cringed. “Are you fucking  _ stupid?”  _

 

“You already said that-” Hyde tried, but Licht cut him off- 

By smacking him in the side, right where the bandages wrapped around his chest. 

 

_ “Licht-san,  _ you can’t just-” Mahiru cut in, moving to step forward as Hyde doubled over with a pained hiss. 

 

“What, you’ll bark at me to rest for a mediocre injury when  _ he’s _ the one with broken ribs?” Licht snapped. 

 

Mahiru’s face went dark as he stepped back, slowly releasing a deep breath. “I already  _ tried  _ keeping him here, but he insisted and ended up just sneaking out anyway, and Servamps  _ do  _ heal quicker than we do,” he explained steadily. “Don’t snap at me when it isn’t  _ me  _ you’re angry at.” 

 

_ What? _

 

“If there’s an issue between you two, you need to sort it out with  _ each other  _ or your contract’s going suffer. If it’s about the Hanahaki, we can try to help, but in the end it’s up to  _ you,  _ Hyde,” he continued, eyes swinging over to him. “I don’t know who, what, or when and I won’t ask, but it’ll just get worse if  _ you let it  _ get even worse.”

 

“You haven’t had Hanahaki before, have you?” Hyde said blithely, words dripping in vicious indigo. 

 

Mahiru shook his head. “No.” 

 

“Then how do you think you have any right to-” 

 

_ “However,  _ I’m not going to let a friend  _ suffer  _ because I didn’t bother to try,” he finished, before huffing. “God, are  _ all  _ Servamps this damn  _ stubborn?”  _ he mumbled to himself before stepping out of the room, sliding the door shut. Hyde blinked owlishly, eyes wide, and Licht felt himself steeping in a similar reaction of shock from Mahiru’s sheer bluntness before the door slid open just a crack. “And if you’re still going to work, you’ve got half-an-hour before you’re late, so either come out and let me bandage you or sulk,” Mahiru called, and Hyde choked. 

 

“I don’t need you to help-” 

 

_ “Licht-san, just tell your stubborn ass of a Servamp to get the hell out here!”  _

 

Licht felt Hyde jump beside him, and he couldn’t resist the grin that worked its way to his face, bubbling up into a physical laugh that spilled over his lips. “Lich-tan?” 

 

“You’re such an idiot,” Licht forced out, covering his face with his hands and stupid giggles burst out of him. He couldn’t fathom what exactly what so funny; maybe it was just the entire situation and how strange it all was: Licht, concussed, with his Servamp presently wrapped up in wounds and bruises from a shopping trip gone wrong, or the fact that Licht was actually pissed that Hyde was slowly torturing himself with Hanahaki and yet Mahiru was screaming at him like a mother to a bratty child as if it was any other day. 

 

Licht’s head hurt, but so did his heart, his chest-

Something had been rattled loose during that fight, something in him that seemed softer, vulnerable, and somehow chained to Hyde…. And yet, he had no idea what it was. 

 

So, all he could do was  _ laugh.  _

_ Then maybe it will all stop hurting.  _

 

“Are you okay?” Hands gently, hesitantly hovered by Licht’s shoulders, cautious-

 

“I want to sleep,” Licht said suddenly, realizing how heavy everything felt around him- his head, the room,  _ Hyde.  _

 

“Then why not sleep now? I’ll be leaving soon, so you won’t have to deal with me anyway,” Hyde said, and Licht huffed. 

 

“You never take afternoon shifts,” Licht pointed out, as Hyde sighed deeply as he forced himself to stand, stretching his arms over his head before wincing. 

 

“I needed  _ something _ to do while you were unconscious,” he said, something clipped in his tone, “so Boss-man let me swap shifts for the week.” 

 

Licht scoffed. “It was barely a concussion,” he argued as he pulled the blankets Hyde had been using around him, “so it wasn’t like I was even out that long.”

 

Hyde paused as he was reaching down for his shirt, pants half-buttoned. When he straightened, his back was to Licht, not looking at him, and something cold was lingering in every ridge of his spine. “Licht-” 

 

_ “Hyde, now!”  _

 

“Jesus, Mahiru, you tryin’ to make us  _ all _ deaf?” Kuro’s voice mumbled, muted by the door. 

 

“It’s  _ your  _ brother being obstinate,” Mahiru interrupted, cut off by Kuro snorting. 

 

“Yeah, but he’s not  _ my  _ responsibility.” 

 

_ Oh, he means me, doesn’t he? _

 

“You’re not lookin’ too good, angel,” Hyde said suddenly, frowning at him. 

 

“I  _ said  _ I wanted to sleep,” Licht sniped, and Hyde rolled his eyes. 

 

“Then sleep, stupid; I’ll be back in a few hours.” 

 

“Good,” Licht mumbled as he let himself fall into the mess of blankets between the two futons, burying his face in the comforter as something he couldn’t name numbed him the inside out, making his skin burn and his head go fuzzy. “And don’t call me stupid.” 

 

“Then don’t kill yourself while I’m out,” Hyde added sarcastically, shutting the door with a snicker when Licht flipped him off. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have I mentioned how much I love writing Mahiru yet? I love his characterization! Soft but spicy, just the way I like it


	5. Prima Donna

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A dip into the past, reliving history tainted with blood and tragedy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: How much will you pay me if I drop cat!Kuro into the hot springs?  
> My beta: EVERYTHING   
> Me: Done

When Licht woke up the second time, the best description he could think of was  _ shitty.  _ “Oh fuck, my head,” he mumbled, hands shifting in the bedding to rub at his skull. He kept his eyes shut, groaning, before burying his face into the blessed darkness of the futon. Still groggy, he was able to register the lingering warmth of the blankets around him, as well as the fact that one, he had fallen asleep in the most uncomfortable position he could have, and two, he was inelegantly strewn between both Hyde’s futon as well as his own, and had landed somewhere messily in the middle. 

There was a comfort to it he hadn’t expected and a lurch of annoyance, which darkened once he realized how unconsciously comforted he’d been by the familiar smell of the both of them around him. 

 

“Fuck that,” he muttered as he shoved the blankets off of him, blearily making his way out of the room into the evening-lit common room that made him squint. “God, why is it so bright?” 

 

“Oh, you’re awake,” Tetsu said from the corner of the room, where he was buried in some book or another. “Mahiru was looking for you, but Kuro let you sleep.” 

 

Licht grunted, not fully awake. 

_ This is why I hate naps; angels don’t  _ **_need_ ** _ naps.  _

 

“They’re in that room if you still wanna talk with him,” Tetsu added, pointing behind him, and Licht nodded, making his way around the coffee table and numbly sliding open the door. 

 

Poking his head in the door, he saw that Hugh was fast asleep in one corner of the room on his futon while Kuro and Mahiru were mushed together at the other, quietly talking to each other. Mahiru had leaned back against the wall with a pillow shoved behind his head as he flicked through his phone and squinting before typing something, and Kuro was curled with his back flush against his leg as he tapped his way through a game level on his DS, scrunching his nose at an inevitable screw-up. “Licht-san!” Mahiru chirped, waving cheerily upon noticing Licht. “Did you sleep well?” 

 

“I feel like shit,” Licht replied flatly, and Mahiru blinked. “What time is it?” 

 

“Just after five,” Kuro answered, not moving. “You’ve only been asleep for two hours.” 

 

_ Only two? Then why does it feel like I’ve simultaneously slept a whole night yet also didn’t sleep at all? _

 

“Lily and Misono are out in the baths right now,” Mahiru said, “do you want to join them?” A silent  _ and you look as if you could use one  _ read clearly on his face. Licht wrinkled his nose. 

 

“Whatever. Fine,” he ceded, not wanting to argue against the ache behind his eyes. Mahiru lit up, and shoved Kuro away from him as he lurched up to an exuberant stand, ignoring the annoyed feline whine that came from an irritated Kuro. 

 

“It’s gonna be too loud,” Kuro mumbled, curling in closer on himself, “too troublesome.” 

 

Mahiru shot him a look, and from the resigned reaction Kuro had, Licht figured he’d just been mentally scolded. “You don’t have to get in, but you’re  _ coming,”  _ Mahiru insisted, an undertone of something he was failing to keep subtle peeking through. Licht resisted the urge to roll his eyes, realizing that they were most likely going to probe him for information about what happened to Hyde. 

 

_ It’s not as if I care.  _

 

Licht looked back over to see Mahiru reaching down to yank a very ungrateful cat from the slats on the floor, in which Kuro had abandoned his human form and lodged his claws into the wood. “You lazy  _ ass,  _ be considerate for  _ ten seconds!”  _ Mahiru barked, before he eventually tore Kuro up and tucked the yowling bundle of fur against his chest. When Mahiru looked back up, Licht repressed the urge to laugh as Mahiru sighed, then rearranging his face into something brighter. “Baths are in the next building over; I’ll take you there!” 

 

Licht nodded as Mahiru headed out, and he heard the faint snip of  _ I hate you, ‘m too tired for this  _ emerge from Mahiru’s arms. Licht shook his head, before shutting the door behind him. 

 

***

 

Licht found it difficult to focus on Mahiru’s chipper monologue as he slipped from one topic to the next, too caught up in the feeling of the wooden floor under his feet and the twining yet elegantly designed hallways. The closer they got to reaching the actual bathhouse, the thicker the air became as sweet-smelling steam curled from between the walls. He couldn’t deny that the hot springs were beautiful, a blend of traditional beauty in the rice paper walls and paintings merging with nature creeping through the entirety of the place itself, the constant smell of earth and nature surrounding him. 

 

By the time they’d wound down the stairs and through the many preparatory rooms- Mahiru had to be cautious enough that no one noticed the twitching tuft of a tail emerging from the front of his shirt- they eventually found the springs where Lily and Misono were already soaking; Lily was talking quietly, while Misono had turned to lean on the edge of the pool, eyes shut and faintly humming in response to what Lily was saying. “Oh, hello,” Lily said abruptly as he noticed them walk in, interrupting himself to lift a hand in greeting. “How are you feeling, Licht?” 

 

“Fine,” Licht mumbled, despite how his head was thumping. 

 

Lily gave him a warm smile, and despite its sincerity, Licht knew he’d seen straight through him. 

“Come on, let’s get in,” Mahiru nudged, ignoring as Kuro whined at his feet.  _ “You  _ don’t have to if you don’t want to,” he directed at Kuro. “Besides, you haven’t bathed anyway.” 

 

“I’ll have you know I’m perfectly  _ bathed,”  _ Kuro huffed as Mahiru slowly toed his way in. 

 

“Spit-cleaning doesn’t count, and it’s  _ gross.”  _

 

“He’s got a point,” Misono pointed out, and Kuro only turned onto his back and stretched, furry stomach drawing Licht’s eye. He was distracted from indulging in his desire as Mahiru called for him to join them. 

 

Licht hesitantly stuck a foot in, shocked by how warm it was before slowly easing in; the heat felt wonderful on his back, numbing and unknotting the muscles he hadn’t known were taut to begin with. Taking in a deep breath, he opened his eyes to look at the room itself, flitting from the gentle babble of the water over the rocks toward the end of the pool, to the view through the open walls as the gold of the afternoon started to turn pink-gold. Lush and green, the vivacity of summer curled and bloomed just outside, and- after pausing as the scent reached him- a small shrub of carefully-maintained jasmine flowers glowed white in the daylight. If he focused enough, he could hear the sound of cicadas in the distance as well, a completely different sound from the ones back home, yet just as comforting. 

 

_ It’s quiet,  _ he thought to himself, stretching his legs in the water, warm and pleased. 

 

_ Damn, you’re actually coming through on your promise to show a little more skin and I’m  _ **_missing it?_ **

 

Licht made an audible noise of disgust before forcing Hyde sharply out of his head. 

 

The sudden flicker of eyes toward him from the others didn’t go unnoticed, and he sighed deeply, closing his eyes and leaning back. “I know you brought me here to ask about Hyde, so just get to it,” he said dryly, and heard faint shifting. 

 

“Actually, I wanted to start with you,” Mahiru said, and Licht cracked open an eye. 

 

“What about me?” 

 

Mahiru let out a deep breath before replying. “Do you have any sense of how long you were unconscious for after the greenhouse?” he started, fixing Licht with a level look. 

 

Licht pursed his lips for a second, thinking.  _ He said it had been a few days, right? I don’t know; everything’s just been so damn blurry.  _ “A day or two, maybe, but what does that matter?” 

 

“Damn,” Kuro muttered, the expletive strangely warped by his feline voice. 

 

Mahiru shot him a look before turning back to Licht. “Hyde woke up a few hours after we got back and patched him up, but for some reason you took…. much longer to come to.” He gnawed on his lip. 

 

Licht side-eyed him. “How long?” he asked flatly, annoyed by the tip-toeing. 

 

“About an entire week,” Lily answered softly, and Licht blinked, trying to register it. 

 

_ What the fuck?  _

 

“We think it had something to do with Hyde already being sick,” Mahiru said, crossing his arms, apparently unbothered as Kuro clambered onto the top of his head. “Since your bond is still unstable, it seemed like your body took on the additional strain.”

 

Licht squinted. “That’s fucking stupid,” he said eloquently, and turned when Misono snorted. 

 

“Maybe, but that’s what ended up happening,” he said, meeting Licht’s eye, “whether you like it or not.” 

 

_ That doesn’t make any sense. Why the hell would I do that? It was just a concussion, so why would I take on more pain than I needed to?  _

 

“Licht-san….” Mahiru said, obviously hesitant, but continued when Licht cocked an eyebrow. “Do you know how long Hyde’s been sick?” 

 

Licht immediately opened his mouth to reply, but failed when he realized had didn’t have a single clue. The deafening realization sank in his stomach and rang horribly in his head; his chest twisted, but he didn’t know why.  _ I have absolutely no idea.  _ (The  _ who  _ of the issue echoed in his mind, making his brain buzz in irritated static.) 

 

“I’m gonna take that expression as a  _ no,”  _ Kuro called lazily, yawning, stretching out his paws. 

 

“If you fall in the water, I’m not fishing you out,” Mahiru chided gently, but he reached up to poke at Kuro’s belly anyway, earning a pleased purr. 

 

“Though it was a long time ago, he didn’t start showing full symptoms for a few months the first time, if I remember correctly,” Lily said, one finger tapping at his lip. “Then again, he’s notorious for keeping to himself.”

 

Licht paused, and from how Mahiru knit his eyebrows, they both had the same reaction. “What do you mean  _ the first time?”  _ Licht asked bitterly, and Lily gave him a surprised look at his venom before it softened. 

 

“This was back before we had the majority vote,” he explained, looking down at the water to toy with the surface. “It was the first time I’d ever seen the illness in person, but it was like it devoured him.” 

 

“So he’s had it  _ before?”  _ Mahiru asked incredulously, and Licht heard the touch of empathy in his voice. “But who?” 

 

Licht kissed his teeth, a flash of a familiar memory and an old song that rolled off his fingertips, drawing tears with it as the answer came instantly.  _ “Ophelia,”  _ he answered scathingly.  _ Of fucking course.  _

 

Lily’s eyes widened, and Kuro lifted his head to look down at him. “He told you about her?” Kuro asked curiously, and Mahiru blinked. 

 

“I ended up pissing him off and he forced the memory on me,” Licht replied, shaking his head in annoyed recollection. “We both had to face it in order for our bond to fully solidify.” 

 

“Who’s Ophelia?” Mahiru asked carefully, wincing when Licht’s eyes cut over to him. 

 

“One of his first Eves,” Lily supplied gently, “but he doesn’t tell many people about her.” 

 

Kuro nodded. “I never met her, but I heard of her many years after she died,” he added. “She  _ did _ leave a lasting impact after the war.”

 

“What happened to her?” Misono cut in, apparently interested, and Licht’s skin crawled at the attention. 

 

“She was executed, a damn martyr for a peace that wouldn’t ever last,” Licht answered bitterly, arms crossing over his chest as he suddenly felt uncomfortable being so bare. “She was determined to have her dream and was stubborn as hell about it, and that ended up being her downfall. He tried his best to stop her, but she was his Eve for a reason.” 

 

Mahiru’s face was bright with empathy, hurt and open. “When she- did- was he-?” he tried, stop-starting in an attempt to remain tactful, but Licht snorted derisively. 

 

“He was forced to watch as she was beheaded in front of the entire kingdom for treason,”  __ Licht delivered sharply, looking him dead in the eye. 

 

Mahiru covered his mouth in shock, and Misono muttered a low  _ damn.  _ Lily looked down at his hands. “It was why he was so emotional during the vote, but none of us knew at the time why.” 

 

“No, I think Old Child did then,” Kuro interjected, “because I remember overhearing them talking about something along the lines of it.”

 

“Now that you mention it, that makes sense; he  _ was _ in that area during those years,” Lily replied. 

 

“Wait a minute- I  _ saw  _ that,” Mahiru said suddenly, eyes wide. 

 

“What do you-?” Kuro started, before being cut off as Mahiru jostled him. 

 

“When I was pulling  _ your _ sorry ass from your own head, I ended up watching your memory of the vote,” Mahiru explained, looking over to Lily. “That was why Hyde made the decision he did, right? I remember feeling like his anger was misdirected, but…. I didn’t know the relationship you had with your father. Er- creator?” 

 

“Why do you think he was so embarrassed when I thanked him for  _ not _ forgiving me?” Kuro groused, and Licht huffed a flat laugh. 

 

“His sole talent is shoving his foot in his mouth, pretending not to have emotional attachments, and then regretting his entire decision before cycling back to the beginning like the idiot he is,” he said, and Lily hid a smile behind his hand. 

 

“Very true,” Lily said, and Misono snickered until Lily raised an eyebrow at him. 

 

“So Hyde…. fell in love with an Eve of his, watched her die, and ended up sick with Hanahaki,” Mahiru started, puzzled, “but…. how long did he have it? It obviously didn’t kill him, but don’t humans normally die after a few months?” 

 

_ (“It’ll just make me miserable, but it’s not like it can kill me; like I said, I’ll be fine- I’ll get over it eventually.”) _

 

Lily and Kuro shared a dubious look, heavy and telling, and Licht’s stomach churned. “‘S not like I was keeping track, but it only got worse with that psychotic break of his,” Kuro said, “I think he finally got over it sometime about a decade or so later.”

 

“A  _ decade?”  _ Mahiru repeated incredulously.

 

“What happened to him?” Misono asked, incredulous, and the silence of both Servamps was deafening. 

 

Something squirmed in the back of Licht’s head, uncomfortable and warm, trying to shy away from the topic. Flickers of memory flashed through his mind- hot flashes to fever sweats, delirium and a mind that felt like it was boiling, lungs scraped raw and the taste of bloody vomit-

 

_ Stop it, Licht, stop.  _

 

“Kuro?” Mahiru nudged, but Licht only faintly heard it as he dug deeper.

 

_ Don’t pry. Don’t look.  _

 

Insatiable bloodlust, incurable heartache (heart _ break),  _ the only feeling that of wretched petals and the slick of another’s blood under shaking fingers- 

 

“It was... like his body was eating him from the inside out but refused to die.” 

 

“It was horrifying and messy when we eventually found him," Lily added. 

 

A pair of green eyes, a pair of red(-rimmed) eyes, salt on the tongue and utter pain in every nerve and bone- 

_ And now it’s going to happen  _ **_again._ **

 

_ STOP IT! _

 

Licht flinched, coughing suddenly at a burst of pain behind his eyes before something made him swipe at his nose, finding a glob of fresh blood there.  _ What the-? _

 

“Licht-san, you’re  _ bleeding!”  _ Mahiru blurted, turning sharply to find something to staunch his nosebleed, eventually reaching back for one of the small towels and thrusting it toward him. 

 

Licht took it with a slight scoff, pressing it to his face. “Thank you for stating the obvious,” he said dryly, wincing as swallowed more blood, the metallic taste burning and uncomfortable, but enough to shift them away from the previous conversation. 

 

“I didn’t think about what the steam would do to your head,” Mahiru said apologetically; Licht didn’t bother trying to counteract him.  _ It wasn’t the steam. _

 

“You don’t have to stay with us any longer than you’d like to,” Lily said, “but I recommend making sure you get that taken care of.” He gestured lightly toward his face before coughing, swallowing a wince. 

 

“I don’t think bleeding into the water is a part of hot springs etiquette,” Misono added sarcastically, though one hand fluttered awkwardly to Lily’s shoulder; Lily waved him off with a gentle smile.

 

“I’m alright,” Lily insisted, and Misono glowered at him. 

 

“You’ve already been in here past the time limit,” he muttered. Lily grinned sheepishly. 

 

“It’s the only thing that keeps me warm nowadays.” 

Misono made a bitter noise. 

 

“Why don’t you head back?” Mahiru suggested, talking over Misono’s sudden rant of  _ Did you consider the fact that it’s making me ill too?  _ in an attempt to give them privacy. “I can go with you if you don’t remember the way back.” 

 

_ “I  _ don’t even remember,” Kuro mumbled, shifting on Mahiru’s head and stretching his legs. 

 

_ “You  _ don’t have an excuse from being here so long, you lazy cat-  _ ow!  _ Hey, no claws!” 

 

“Mm, sorry, but your hair’s soft enough I didn’t realize it.” 

 

“I happen to have a  _ skull  _ under that!” 

 

Licht sighed deeply, ignoring the copper dripping down his throat as he carefully maneuvered his way out of the pool, pink skin happily steeping in the cool air around them. He kept one hand pressed to his nose as he tried not to slip. 

 

“Oi, stop squirming, you’re gonna make me fall-” 

 

“You didn’t  _ have  _ to sit there, you know!” 

 

“Mahiru,  _ wait-”  _

 

Licht walked around the corner just as a splash and a feline shriek reverberated in the room as chaos erupted; he let the pounding of his head guide him out of the springs, grabbing a yukata on his way out of the changing room. 

 

_ Idiots.  _

 

_ (Like you can talk.)  _

 

*******

 

Something about the conversation bothered Licht, tugging at a loose piece of him somewhere deep behind his sternum as he felt his feet hit the floor below him, a metronome that tugged at that curious thread. 

 

_ I hate secrets. I hate lies, I hate the past-  _ He scoffed, shaking his head as it throbbed. His nose had stopped bleeding a few minutes after he’d left the springs, but it didn’t stop the feeling of it crusting inside his nose and on his fingers no matter how hard he tried to ignore it. 

 

For some reason, that only made his head hurt more. 

 

Now that he was alone in his own head as he walked back, something about the memory- combined with the realization that Hyde’s been sick  _ before-  _ triggered something in Licht, and his fingers itched as a sudden spring of blood-stained music sparked under his skin. Whether he labeled it as  _ rage  _ or  _ inspiration  _ it didn’t matter, so long as he was able to get it down onto paper in time before it evaporated. 

 

In the span of a few minutes he didn’t remember, Licht managed to retrieve his messy notes and a pencil from the depths of his bag and crashed at the table in the main room, ignoring the ache in his knees as he bent over the paper in front of him. 

 

Red sixteenth notes and chromatics burst from his fingers as he chased the chords he heard in his head, the sickly-sweet melody the next piece he needed. His emotions were indistinguishable from each other as graphite smudged over the paper, jumping from one line to the next; legato whole notes soaked in desperation, sharp chords dripped in electric hatred and betrayal, something akin to  _ adoration  _ steeped within a pulsing aria. It was messy and crude yet building, another movement in his disaster of a conclusion, but it was  _ something.  _

 

If he closed his eyes, he could taste the salt of his own sweat on his tongue and the sound of applause, tears glittering in the audience-  _ a mission of retribution, reclamation, a desperation to be seen and to be loved and to be claimed-  _ the feeling of keys sliding under his fingers, stretching his hands to reach the hardest chords-  _ an Icarus fall, a fall of the heart, falling in love, falling into silence, broken wings and broken bones-  _ the ache in his shoulders, the press of his toes onto golden pedals to make the notes sing and shake like an exultant breath- 

 

If he focused enough, he could imagine the swing of other instruments beside him. 

 

If he focused enough, he could feel them swell and curl with his piano, until the sound under his fingers was more than just the  _ piano.  _

 

If he focused enough, he could feel it  _ all  _ under his hands, on the paper, in his control, as if he owned  _ everything,  _ as if he-

 

_ (Stop. STOP. Too much, you can’t.) _

 

_ You can’t take all of the music, angel- stop, refocus.  _

 

Licht’s hands robotically lurched away from the paper, chest hitching. 

 

His heart burned as he realized how  _ greedy  _ he had been, far beyond what angels should allow- 

For a moment- a dirty and blood-seeped moment- he succumbed to demonic sin. 

 

When he looked back down at his paper, he could see his devolvement slipping out of the staff lines, going from clear work to a mess of notes he could barely decipher. In the end, out of the four pages of the small-lined staves he’d scribbled across, only one was usable, and only faintly readable at that. 

 

_ I warned you,  _ a faint voice whispered cautiously to Licht, making his chest twist before he threw his pencil across the room with a  _ Fuck!  _ and making Mahiru- who’d just walked into the room with a towel-wrapped Kuro in his arms- jump, freezing. “Licht-san? Are you-?” 

 

“Shut up and leave me alone,” Licht snapped, dropping his head into his hands as he leaned his elbows on the table, head pounding; he didn’t know who he was talking to then- he just wanted it to be  _ quiet.  _

 

“Okay,” Mahiru said quietly, crossing behind the couch, pausing with a hand hooked into the door to their room. “Just let me know if you need anything.” 

 

As the door slid shut, so did Licht’s eyes, before he set the papers onto the table as his frustration throbbed in his temples; he didn’t care that the music was sticking to his face. 

 

He couldn’t figure out why he was feeling the way he was, like he was being unraveled at the very seams, at his heartstrings, as if he was being strangled by the music his mind conjured.  _ I’m just tired, tired of it all- Fuck you, you damn demon.  _

 


	6. The Music of the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sleep draws the deeply-embedded truth even from the most stubborn of closed hearts, and brothers-of course- always know best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Hyde, ever the transparent one.   
> And Licht, the dense one.

Later that night, far after the sun had set and the moon hung full and bright in the sky, Hyde trudged his way back into the hot springs with an ache in his arms and deep in his chest. He’d managed to slip through the open hallways and side-step any employees who would certainly scold him for still wearing shoes, reaching the suite feeling as if he’d just completed some convoluted level of a video game. 

 

Sliding open the door, he peeked in to see that- much to his surprise- there was a low light still on, illuminating the two people still at the table talking. “It’s nearly midnight,” he started incredulously, “so what’re  _ you two  _ doin’ up?” 

 

“I just couldn’t get to sleep,” All of Love said lightly, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders despite the summer humidity creeping through the room. Hyde cocked an eyebrow at Sleepy Ash, who only shrugged. Hyde rolled his eyes. 

 

“Well,  _ I’m  _ gonna go shower and pass out, unlike you insomniacs,” Hyde quipped, stretching his arms over his head as he made his way across the room, pausing when he caught the sight of a familiar frame stretched over the couch. Something pulsed behind his chest and his face fell, softening. “What are you doin’ out here, angel?” he mumbled, eyebrows knitting. 

 

“Waiting for you,” Sleepy Ash piped up, and Hyde jumped, looking back over.

 

_ “Me?”  _ Hyde repeated dumbly, and he watched All of Love smile lightly as Sleepy Ash snickered.

 

“You missed the writing frenzy, though,” Sleepy Ash continued, pulling up his ankle to tuck it under his thigh. “It was like a damn tornado tore through here or somethin’.” 

 

_ I didn’t miss it,  _ Hyde thought with a wince, eyes flicking back to Licht, on his side with half of his face buried into the couch, curled deeply into himself. He remembered the unintentional prying, the flash of deep-seated fear that made him snap loud enough at Licht that  _ something  _ broke, and then Licht was gone- awash in nothing but hellfire passion that nearly devoured him. Hyde had to stop him before he threw himself too far off track, but then he’d been shut out; Hyde hadn’t fancied the cold silence. 

 

“Apparently it was bad enough that he knocked himself out,” Hyde joked, but he could hear how it fell slightly flat, twisting in his chest. He groaned and rubbed at his eyes. 

 

“He’ll be sore sleeping there,” All of Love said, and Hyde sighed, not missing the intent behind the words. 

 

“He’s always falling asleep in stupid places,” he said blithely, “he’ll be fine for a few more minutes while I shower.” 

 

In all honesty, Hyde didn’t want to bother Licht, knowing he should steer clear of the inevitable beat-down he’d get as soon as Licht registered it was him, and wasn’t planning on moving him- 

 

Until a hand reached out to snatch at Hyde’s wrist. 

 

His mind stuttered to a halt.

 

“Lich-tan-?” 

 

_ “Don’t leave,”  _ Licht mumbled, the earnest and blurry German cementing the realization that Licht was in fact  _ definitely  _ not awake.

 

“I’m not going anywhere,” Hyde said slowly, trying to surreptitiously tug his wrist from Licht’s grasp, only for the action to backfire when Licht’s fingers clamped down even tighter, pressing the metal of Hyde’s bracelets into his flesh. He winced, though he wasn’t sure if it was from Licht’s grip or the explosion of bitter rawness that burst into his mind. 

 

_ “Don’t leave, please,”  _ Licht repeated, more desperate, more  _ afraid,  _ pulling into himself and face twisting in pain. 

 

_ He’s…. shaking,  _ Hyde realized, crouching down until he was face level with him.  _ I think his nightmares are back... _

 

_ “Ssh, I’m not going anywhere,”  _ Hyde tried quietly, keeping his hand still, ignoring how his pulse slammed at the point where Licht’s fingers squeezed against his skin.  _ “So what are you afraid of?”  _

 

_ “Don’t leave me,”  _ Licht said, breath gauzy and hitching, mind wide open like a snare; an open invitation, a certain trap if Hyde were to approach.  _ “Don’t go, don’t leave me alone!”  _

 

Hyde blinked, taken aback by the naked fear in his voice, by how his eyes were squeezed shut so tightly that a tear had worked its way free.  _ “No one’s gonna hurt you,”  _ Hyde said gently,  _ “‘cause I’m not going anywhere.”  _ His fingers reached out automatically to swipe away the tear tracking down his face; he ignored how his throat burned. Licht said nothing, only shivering at the touch of Hyde’s fingers before burying his face into the couch, mind sparking in confused blues and terrified reds. 

 

_ He’s never been like this-  _

_ I-  _

_ I don’t know what to do.  _

_ Why is he so afraid? _

_ He’s never this open.  _

_ This is my fault.  _

 

(His heart refused to let it go.) 

 

He knew the obvious answer for what he could do, and sighed deeply to himself as he reached out to feel Licht’s forehead, frowning when he found it was warm, though not overly so. He was able to extricate himself, humming an  _ I’ll be right back  _ when Licht’s breath hitched, yet his hand retracted and tucked back against his chest. Perplexed and overdrawn, he drew a hand through his hair as he ignored the heavy stares of his brothers behind him, feeling something akin to shame crawl up his spine as he coughed weakly.  

 

“It’s not Ophelia again, is it?” Sleepy Ash asked, and Hyde didn’t have to turn around to see the expression on his face, knowing and rhetorical. 

 

He turned anyway, giving them both a silent warning, a sharp side-eye that could’ve cut steel if his heart weren’t so unstable. 

 

“You know what happens when you grow too attached to your Eves,” Sleepy Ash continued, passive and almost uncaring as he settled his head down on his arms. 

 

Hyde scoffed bitterly. “Maybe  _ you _ should take your own advice before getting sanctimonious,” he spit, and Sleepy Ash’s eyes flicked over to him, spine going taut like hackles raising.

 

“Watch your damn mouth,” he warned lowly, and Hyde laughed wryly, eyes blazing in dark rage like a gun to be fired. 

 

“It’s late,” All of Love intervened, giving them both a look that silenced them. Gentle and soft appearance aside, he had the ability to strip anyone raw should someone cross the line, and they were both toeing it in their own roundabout way. “Lawless, take care of Licht once you’ve changed.” 

 

“But-” 

 

“If you two start fighting, everyone else will be woken up, and Sleepy Ash-” All of Love looked over to him- “I don’t think Mahiru would be too happy with that, especially considering that Licht would be disturbed as well.” 

 

Sleepy Ash clicked his tongue. Hyde snorted, face victorious until a shriek sounded like a flare in his mind as Licht shifted, making Hyde gasp faintly. All of Love nodded toward Licht, and Hyde admitted silent defeat, drawing himself up. 

(He couldn’t think of a witty retort this time, too worn to the bone and exposed, too  _ angry.)  _

 

“Night, then,” Hyde mumbled instead, making his way to their room as quickly as he could, ignoring the growing sense of panic he felt building behind his chest.  _ I’ve never felt this from him before,  _ he thought absently as he stepped around Mahiru and struggled to get his shoes off and shuck off his outer layers. 

 

His eyes caught on the papers jammed messily into Licht’s (stupid) backpack. A notebook and a broken pencil lay beside it, and he leaned down to peer curiously at it. 

 

Carefully tugging it from the zipper, he was met with a frenetic mess of notes; chaotic runs and chords sprawling over the page, going from neat to downright  _ hellish.  _ While versed in music-  _ “I’ve been around for a while, angel- I  _ **_know_ ** _ things”-  _ he wasn’t born with the passion, unlike Licht; compared to Hyde, he was like a creature all to his own breed, one that had music and magic pulsing under his skin like a second heartbeat in a language Hyde couldn’t ever hope to understand. (While Licht would say  _ angel,  _ Hyde was more certain he was more a  _ siren, _ or perhaps an incubus at best with the natural yet infuriatingly unintentional charm he was steeped in.) 

 

What little he could pick out was rushed and somehow pained at the most, but what he  _ was  _ able to read made his heart clench, imagining the raw fury the notes must’ve emanated with, paired with cruel spacing and arias practically  _ designed  _ to torture the musician for the sake of the audience in a torrent of notes  _ Mozart _ could’ve been proud of. 

 

It was a piece of thorns and blood, a rose waiting to be dyed red. 

 

_ This was what he wrote because of me? Because of  _ **_my_ ** _ pain?  _

(Not completely; it was only one side of the pain.) 

 

Hyde’s fingers scrunched the paper just slightly, feeling his traitorous eyes burn for a reason he couldn’t specifically pinpoint. 

 

_ So this is how an artist suffers- _

_ It’s so beautiful. _

_ Of course it is.  _

 

He was able to catch a word jammed hastily in the corner of the first page, having been added in later in much calmer handwriting, but he was distracted as the bubble of panic popped in his chest into a maw of  _ hurt  _ that made Hyde silently cry out, swallowing any sound for the sake of Mahiru sleeping few feet away from him.  _ Fuck- okay, Jesus, I’m not going anywhere-  _

_ I  _ **_won’t_ ** _ go anywhere.  _

 

Shoving the papers back into Licht’s bag, Hyde stood and turned back toward the door, padding quietly out into the room just as Sleepy Ash passed him, an expression on his face that apologized for more than just his quip earlier, shutting the door behind him. “Should I leave the light on for you?” All of Love called gently. Hyde just shook his head, distracted as fingers tangled in the back of Hyde’s shirt and a sudden rush of relief and exhaustion washed through Licht. All of Love smiled lightly, shifting the blanket tighter around his shoulders and wincing as rough coughs forced their way out of his mouth. “Then sleep well, you two,” he said, and flicked the light off, quietly sliding the door open to his room and disappearing into it. 

 

Hyde quickly adjusted to the dark but Licht didn’t, his breath sliding unevenly as the darkness washed over them. As the late hour started to seep into Hyde’s mind, he abandoned his poorly-constructed plan to try and carry Licht back to bed without waking him, and instead just ceded to his base desire, shifting to his animal form and crawling into Licht’s arms until he was flush against his chest, hearing his heart beat steadily beside him. Licht reciprocated immediately, and Hyde remembered to keep his spines flat as Licht tucked him tightly against his chest before his breath evened back out; the tightness on his face and in his mind faded out and his heart stopped thundering. 

 

_ I didn’t know I had that effect on you, angel,  _ Hyde thought faintly as a sleepy lull of relief and reconnection fluttered between them as their bond settled, warm and careful as his eyes started to fall shut. 

 

(He knew he’d regret the need to vomit first thing in the morning and the embarrassment of having two people know the truth, but for the moment, his flower-sick heart was happy to indulge for just a second.) 

 

\-------

 

The first thing Licht registered upon waking up was the fact that he was incredibly  _ warm.  _ Second was the slant of light across his face, making him squint, barely awake as he tried to get his bearings.  _ Oh, I fell asleep on the couch,  _ he faintly remembered, wanting to move as his back complained from being asleep on it for so long when he realized the third thing- 

 

There was another body stretched over top of him, nestled into him and fast asleep. 

 

Ten seconds after waking up and Licht didn’t have his shields up, his mind still booting back into function but just conscious enough to blearily trace every point of contact between him and the Servamp breathing steadily against him, calmly- peacefully. Hyde had stripped to just his undershirt and his pants, legs splayed lazily between Licht’s, and from the feeling of thin bone and the small bite of rings against his shoulder blades he realized Hyde had his arms wrapped around him as well. (It…. wasn’t a feeling he disliked.)

 

Fifteen seconds after waking up, and some subconscious part of Licht was lifting a hand to card his fingers through Hyde’s mismatched hair, pulling it away from his face and vaguely registering how  _ soft  _ it was.  _ He looks so young without his glasses on,  _ he thought, fingers stilling somewhere behind Hyde’s ear, pausing when he felt the sharp edge of something by the shell of it.  _ Huh? _

 

Twenty seconds after waking up, and Licht’s lungs turned to ice when he felt a deep hum rumble through his chest as Hyde shifted.  _ “Mn, _ don’t tug too hard on those,” he mumbled lowly, voice a shade of velvet violet as he started to wake up, and Licht couldn’t tell which made his ears burn more- the realization that he  _ liked  _ the sound of Hyde’s voice like  _ that- _ slow-pulled taffy from sleep- _ , _ or the two dark studs hidden just under the edge of his ear, glittering from under the cartilage line where Licht’s fingers had barely brushed. 

 

Twenty-five seconds, twenty-six- Licht’s eyes went wide, heart slamming as Hyde cracked open a single scarlet eye, and Licht’s stomach dropped.

 

Twenty-seven, twenty-eight- “You-  _ what the-”  _

 

Twenty-nine- “Y’know, you’re rather comfortable despite how fine-boned you are, angel-” 

 

Thirty seconds after waking up, and Licht’s mind was fully awake, blaring alarm bells-

Which translated itself into shoving Hyde bodily onto the floor as  _ violently _ as he could, pulling himself up to glare at him as Hyde hit the ground with a groan. “Son of a  _ bitch,  _ that hurt-” 

 

“What the  _ fuck  _ were you doing?” Licht barked, anger and mortification painting his face a nasty red as he pulled his arms across his chest, tucking himself as tightly into the corner of the couch as he could. 

 

“Shit, my ribs,” Hyde wheezed as he pulled himself up, pressing a hand to his side. Licht continued scowling at him, and Hyde eventually looked back up at him, one eye squeezed shut in pain. 

 

_ “Explain,  _ you shitty rat, before I  _ remove  _ your ribs,” Licht threatened. 

 

“Hey, don’t get mad at me when  _ you  _ were the one who started it,” Hyde complained, face dark as he tried to rearrange himself into a much comfier position. 

 

“Cut the shit,” Licht retorted, nearly thrown off balance when a flicker of hurt fluttered through their bond.  _ What? _

 

“You don’t remember?”  Hyde asked, sincere, before he scoffed, familiar facade slipping back into place. “Never mind, of course you don’t.” 

 

“Remember  _ what?”  _ Licht asked testily, wary of Hyde’s shifting responses, watching as one of his hands came up to scrub at the back of his neck. 

 

Hyde opened his mouth, a response clear on his tongue when he snapped it shut, a bitter sound boiling in his throat as he coughed violently, as if it stole the words from him. “Nothing,” he said flatly, sharp and unlike him. 

 

Licht felt a wave of something uncomfortable wash over him, pulling at him.  _ Something’s wrong-  _ **_he’s_ ** _ wrong.  _ “Hey-” 

 

_ “Nothing,”  _ Hyde snapped, and Licht mentally reeled as Hyde started to shove himself up from the floor. 

 

_ “Oi,  _ look at me,” Licht started, reaching out to snatch at Hyde’s wrist- 

And recoiling when Hyde violently tore his hand out of Licht’s grasp, hearing a breath catch in Hyde’s chest before hissing out in a faint wheeze. 

 

“Don’t.” It was half a word, barely spoken, and Hyde didn’t look at him; his ears were tipped in red. 

 

“Okay, what the hell is wrong with you?” Licht quipped, and he saw Hyde try and fail to summon his air of ridiculous uncaringness, as if exhaustion and something bone-deep was eating away at him.  _ What happened to jokes and the flirting?  _

 

“I’m just tired,” Hyde answered, but his words fell flat, unsteady, punctuated by a cough.

 

“You-” Licht started, peering at him, but Hyde avoided his eyes as another cough came, and another, and another, until both hands were clamped over his mouth. 

 

Licht couldn’t tell which he was trying to keep from escaping- the flowers or the words he wanted to say. 

 

In the next span of a breath, Hyde turned sharply on his heel and bolted for the bathroom, ignoring Licht’s bark of  _ “Hyde!”  _ and locking himself away entirely; in mind as well as space, until that familiar golden ember Licht hadn’t realize always kept him warm was doused. 

 

Licht dragged a hand down his face with a groan, still groggy and confused. The sound of a bell interrupted his whirling mind, and he looked over in time to see Kuro emerge from the porch, shifting into his human form. Licht’s hand froze, feeling as if he’d been caught doing something wrong. “Don’t expect to me explain his issues for you,” Kuro said blithely, fitting himself into one of the chairs at the table and pulling out his phone. 

 

Kuro’s response made Licht narrow his eyes suspiciously. “Neko-san, do you know something?” he asked warily, and Kuro huffed. 

 

“I know lots of things, so you’ll have to be more specific,” Kuro answered evasively, as the sound of a rather violent coughing fit rattled through the walls. Licht’s chest twisted, but Kuro seemed unbothered. 

 

“What on earth is going on out here?” Mahiru asked, sliding open the bedroom door to peer out into the living room. “It’s not even nine yet and it’s already so damn loud!” 

 

“Just typical shit-rat behaviour,” Licht said dryly, blinking when he realized it was anything  _ but.  _ “He’s just being annoying and invading personal space.” 

 

“Uh huh,  _ he  _ was,” Kuro mumbled sarcastically under his breath, not looking up from his phone, and Licht scowled at him. 

 

“If you’re going to say something, just spit it out,” Licht sniped, crossing his arms. 

 

“Licht-san, what happened?” Mahiru asked, emerging from the room at the sound of the noise to pad over to him, crossing his arms to aim a stare at Kuro. “And since  _ when  _ are you awake before  _ noon?”  _

 

“When I’m up late because I have annoying brothers and the nonsense spills into the damn morning,” Kuro replied, and Mahiru huffed a breath. 

 

“Out with it, dumb cat,” he chided, and Kuro gave a long and deep-seated sigh. 

 

“You’re all so troublesome,” he complained, setting his phone down on the table and settling his face onto the surface, stretching his arms out over it as Mahiru sat down next to him. 

 

Licht cautiously drew out the chair from across them, sitting down slowly as Mahiru poked at Kuro, who mumbled, leaning into him. Licht huffed. “Are  _ all _ Servamps so clingy?” he asked, crossing his arms. 

 

Mahiru knit his eyebrows. “What do you mean?” Licht stared at him flatly, before nodding to Kuro, who had shifted until he was nestled against his Eve, eyes shut. Mahiru blinked, and then pinked. 

 

“Yeah, it’s normal,” Kuro interrupted, yawning, “we’re all like that.” Licht squinted disbelievingly. “Even our sister, believe it or not; reaffirms the connection and all that.” 

 

“And here I just thought it was because your lazy cat ass just didn’t like sleeping on  _ your side,”  _ Mahiru complained, swatting lightly at Kuro, who wrinkled his nose. 

 

“You’re warm, sue me,” Kuro said, and Mahiru snorted. 

 

“Uh huh, says the one who is  _ literally  _ a damn furnace all the time.” 

 

“Ssh, ‘m trying to sleep,” Kuro said as he pressed further into Mahiru’s side, looking much younger sans-coat and mushed into another person. 

 

Licht quirked an eyebrow. “Weren’t you just sleeping outside?” 

 

Kuro cracked open an eye. “I  _ was  _ until I was rudely woken up by a pair of idiots.” 

 

Licht scoffed.

 

“What happened this time, Licht-san?” Mahiru asked, looking back up to him. “I take it Hyde was in your personal space again?” 

 

Licht made a bitter noise, gnawing at his lip. “The  _ last  _ time Hyde tried sleeping with me I kicked his ass into the hallway for the night, but apparently he forgot that lesson,” he said sharply, intending for the words to be angry- 

But a blip of perplexed embarrassment he couldn’t identify made his neck flash with heat. 

 

Mahiru choked, and Kuro laughed lowly despite being jarred as Mahiru continued coughing. “I’m sorry- you made him sleep in the  _ hallway?”  _

 

“He deserved it,” Licht retorted, pausing when he realized Mahiru didn’t question the first part of his sentence. He fixed Mahiru with a look, working his jaw. “You know something too.” 

 

Mahiru froze. “Uh-” 

 

“Did something happen last night that I  _ just so  _ happened to miss? Because the last thing I remember was falling asleep on that shitty couch,”  _ (‘while waiting for Hyde to get back’).  _

 

Mahiru’s eyes flicked to Kuro, who’d shut his eyes again in an effort to be ignored. Mahiru blew out a low breath and nudged him. “If you told me then you have to tell him,” he said quietly, rolling his eyes when Kuro groaned loudly. (One of Licht’s hands had dropped to the table, unconsciously picking at the lacquer of the wood.) 

 

“It’s not some secret that he’s a shitty rat with a penchant for being clingy,” Licht snapped, annoyance prickling and coiling. 

 

“You can’t fault him this time,” Kuro interrupted, eyes still shut as if he couldn’t be bothered to look at Licht. 

 

“What the hell does  _ that  _ mean?” Licht countered.  _ It’s obviously his fault, so why’s everyone being so weird about it?  _ he thought, mind flickering back to each and every point of contact they’d had earlier, and the faintest flash of a red eye opening to peer at him- 

Something curled uncomfortably in his gut, and he swallowed thickly. 

 

Kuro sighed deeply and dramatically. “Fine, you wanna know so badly?” he started, eyes flickering open. “When he came back, you were already passed out on the couch.” 

 

“So?” Licht interrupted, and Kuro gave him a flat look, one that made him feel as if he was being scolded by an older brother.  _ (Though I suppose I am.)  _ Licht shifted uncomfortably, hands dropping into his lap to pluck at his pants. “Sorry,” he muttered. 

 

He didn’t notice the faint flicker of surprise on Mahiru’s face, nor the silent comment that passed between him and Kuro. 

 

“You were having a nightmare and latched onto him, even though he tried his damndest to leave you alone,” Kuro finished coolly, and Licht’s eyes went wide. 

 

“You’re shitting me,” Licht blurted, disbelieving.

 

“Considering I was there,  _ no,”  _ Kuro said sarcastically, pushing off of Mahiru to lean his elbows onto the table, peering directly at Licht. “Thought you were gonna break his wrist considering how tightly you were  _ squeezing.”  _

 

A curious flicker of guilt and  _ mortification  _ burned in the pit of his stomach, only to be nudged at by a faint touch of comfort. It backfired, though, when Licht tried and failed to say something and only ended up with red-faced confusion. “I wouldn’t do that,” he said thinly, laughing humorlessly, a half-beat of incredulity. “Angels don’t even  _ get  _ nightmares.” 

 

_ But you had them after the battle with Higan,  _ his memory whispered to him, making his blood run cold.  _ All you could think of was fire and chains, blood in your mouth, and the sound of Hyde’s tag breaking.  _

 

The Sloth pair stared silently at him, waiting, until Licht rolled his eyes, scoffing. “I don’t remember anything, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Licht started, not hearing the sound of the bathroom door opening, “so it may as well just not have happened.” 

 

A spark of hurt made his jaw snap shut as he realized his mistake. “Well, little angel, I guess you had a good night then, hm?” Hyde quipped, words pleasant but tone just faintly nudging venomous. 

 

“I can dismember you if you like,” Licht threatened, but it lacked his normal edge, making Hyde bark a laugh that only ground at Licht’s nerves. (His voice was rougher, as if someone had poured acid down his throat, and Licht’s stomach twisted.) 

 

“Considering how  _ desperate  _ you were for me last night, I’m thinking you won’t,” Hyde said, words heavy with innuendo as he dropped his chin onto the top of Licht’s head.

 

Licht wasn’t sure whether it was the fact that someone was touching him or the fact that it was  _ Hyde  _ so close to him that made him smack his face, shoving him away, ignoring Hyde when he complained loudly. “What  _ is it  _ with you and your infatuation with touching me?” Licht snapped, whipping around his seat to glare at him, greeted with what he could only describe as a very  _ bedraggled _ Hyde; he’d wet his hair and pushed it out of his eyes and his face was flushed, yet somehow still sickly-looking. 

 

Hyde paused before cracking a wild smile. “It’s because you just  _ smell _ so good- let’s see, what is that? Oh yes-  _ eau du  _ **_hypocrite_ ** _ ,”  _ he teased lasciviously, cackling when Licht shoved out of his seat and aimed a kick toward him. 

 

_ “I’m going to kill you until you’re dead, you perverted rat!”  _ he roared, sharp syllables of German making the threat four times as potent. 

 

_ “No, you woooon’t,”  _ Hyde retorted, ducking as a leg swung over his head and sliding around the couch. 

 

“Guys,” Mahiru tried tiredly, watching as Licht summoned his boots to propel himself over the couch just as Hyde used his hedgehog form to scuttle underneath it. 

 

“Don’t,” Kuro muttered, shifting into his cat form and settling in Mahiru’s lap. Mahiru sighed and dropped a hand into Kuro’s fur. 

 

_ “And why’s that?”  _ Licht demanded, dropping to his knees to try and find a familiar flash of black and white spines. 

 

_ “Because-”  _ Licht choked when a pair of arms looped around his waist, tugging him away from the couch. 

 

_ “What the f-?”  _

 

_ “You love me!”  _ Hyde finished as he hauled Licht up over his shoulder, laughing when Licht was suddenly met with the sight of the floor from five feet up, hands scrabbling on Hyde’s back for purchase in an attempt to keep his face from slamming into his spine. 

 

“Holy shit,” Mahiru breathed to himself in surprise as Hyde snickered victoriously. 

 

“Do you have a fucking  _ deathwish?”  _ Licht wheezed, lungs crushed into Hyde’s shoulder. “Put me the  _ fuck down!”  _

 

“Nope,” Hyde replied, lazily popping the p. 

 

“You-” Licht started absently, trying to flail his feet and dislodge himself, only for Hyde’s arms to tighten around the back of his knees and effectively pin his legs. Licht’s Lead fizzled out as he lost focus, trying to both get down and catch his breath while also ignoring the fact that he was pressed flat  _ directly  _ against Hyde’s frame.  _ Shit.  _

 

“Aw, did I tire the angel out of his tantrum?” Hyde purred as Licht sagged against him, stifling a weak cough. 

 

“Just put me down, Hyde,” Licht mumbled, pounding weakly against his back. “I can’t fucking breathe.” 

 

_ “Tell me about it,”  _ Hyde muttered to himself as he shifted Licht off his shoulder and carefully slid his hands from his knees to the sides of his legs until Licht was able to reach the floor. Licht smacked him, smothering a cough as his chest ached. “What, nothin’ to say now that you’re back on earth?” Hyde said, smirking. 

 

Licht met his eyes before pressing a hand against Hyde’s chest and shoving him hard enough to fall backward over the arm of the couch with a yelp. 

 

“Will you guys shut the  _ hell up?”  _ Misono suddenly yelled, the bedroom door banging out as he slid it violently open.  _ “Some people  _ are tryin’ to sleep!” 

 

Hyde only groaned from the couch as he wrapped his arms around his chest, and Licht cocked an eyebrow at Misono. 

 

“Join the club, Kisama-chan,” Kuro drawled, and Mahiru flicked at his ear in admonishment. 

 

“I’m sorry, Misono,” Mahiru said, an apologetic smile on his face. “Is Lily still sleeping?” 

 

Misono huffed. “He’s trying, but he’s either completely restless or unwakeable.” Mahiru’s face fell. Misono saw his expression and turned his head, a darkness settling over him. “Just- keep it down, dammit,” he muttered, sliding the door shut. 

 

Licht tried to banish the thought of _I_ _ s that what’s going to happen to Hyde?  _ before it could take root, but he just slow enough that Hyde was able to catch the tail end of it; the bond pulsed gold-purple. 

 

“Hyde, are your ribs okay?” Mahiru called, a touch melancholy. 

 

Hyde lurched up, hair a mess as he wheezed. “Never better, as you’d expect from  _ moi,”  _ he chirped brightly, sliding off the cushions to stand, trying to stretch his arms over his head before cringing; the pulse of pain crackled through Licht’s own ribs. 

 

“Stupid,” Licht muttered, and while Hyde’s lips spread into a grin, he didn’t respond to him. 

 

“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go sleep now until my shift,” Hyde announced, bowing as deeply as he could before backtracking toward the bedroom door. 

 

Licht’s eyebrows knit before he whipped around. “You just  _ fucking woke up,”  _ he hissed. Hyde only winked and slid the door shut in Licht’s face. Licht just stared blankly at the delicate designs curling over the rice paper before he dragged a hand through his hair.  _ Fucking moron.  _

 

“Aren’t you gonna-?” Mahiru started, but Licht waved him off. 

 

“No point,” he said plainly, before decidedly slipping his phone out of the pocket of his pajamas and padding toward the porch, sliding the door open and lying down in the sun. Tugging out a pair of headphones, he opened what jumbled pieces he’d already composed earlier that month for his piece and played the recordings. 

 

Then, he shut his eyes, and let his mind take over, the sleepy summer heat already kicking in and warming him from the inside out. 

He shoved the discomfort of Hyde away as focused on the music and the music alone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was one of my favorite sections to write, for obvious reasons... they're so stupid, and I really love their dynamic.


	7. Poor Fool, He Makes Me Laugh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you let it bleed, it'll start to seep through the cracks... there's no staunching it now that it's on your hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I.... have nothing to say for myself for this chapter.

_ (A few hours later.)  _

 

The dreams were far crueler than reality, which was the unfortunate opposite of what Hyde had hoped. 

 

He’d dropped heavily onto his futon, careful not to squash the glasses he discarded messily the night before and buried himself into his cold covers, willing sleep to take him away from the nightmare he’d dragged himself into. 

 

Instead, sleep only brought him hazy recollections of the night before, gauzy and silken, tying into his heartstrings as his heart clashed between his first love and  _ this _ love, trying to move away from the former:  

_ He couldn’t remember when he had switched back into his human form, nestling perfectly against Licht’s thin frame- _

**_(Think of me, think of fondly when we’ve said goodbye….)_ **

_ The heartbeat warm and living under his ear, the scent of blood under Licht’s skin-  _

**_(Remember me once in a while-)_ **

_ The sleepy pulse of dreams and deep-seated comfort at having Hyde near bright in their bond- _

**_(Please promise me you’ll try…)_ **

_ The craving that was sated by having him tight in his arms, knowing nothing could happen to him so long as he didn’t let Licht go-  _

**_(When you find that once again you long to take your heart back and be free-)_ **

_ The scar of the cigarette burn perfect and circular just under Licht’s collarbone-  _

**_(If you ever find a moment, spare a thought for me…)_ **

_ A foreign sense of stillness in a tumultuous heart that hadn’t felt calm since the era of Ophelia-  _

**_(We never said our love was evergreen or as unchanging as the sea...)_ **

_ The horrifying and finally-voiced realization that rattled in Hyde’s mind, words he never trusted to hear himself say after  _ **_her_ ** _ whispered like a broken psalm into the fabric of Licht’s shirt-  _

**_(But if you can still remember- stop and think of me.)_ **

 

A sudden burst of noise startled Hyde awake, making him lurch upright with a wince as a sound like a high-pitched scream sounded in his ears.  _ Jesus, what the fuck-?  _

 

“Oi, wake up, Lawless!” Sleepy Ash’s voice barked from outside. 

 

_ “What?”  _ Hyde yelled hoarsely, but he wasn’t given an answer as the door slid open. As if summoned by that action, the noise increased two-fold, making Hyde groan in pain as he clapped his hands to his hears. “God, what is that  _ noise?”  _

 

“What noise?” Sleepy Ash asked, standing over Hyde. “I don’t hear anything.” 

 

“Are you  _ deaf?  _ It’s like someone’s  _ screaming  _ or something!” Hyde countered, wincing, and something in his brother’s face twisted. “What?” 

 

“You need to come here,” Sleepy Ash started, uneasiness in his voice, “there’s... something wrong with Licht.” 

 

Hyde blinked, eyebrows knitting, before fear flashed in his chest. “What? Where is he?” Sleepy Ash nodded back toward the door, and Hyde forced himself up to pause at the doorway, heart freezing as he saw a crowd of people by the far side of the room. “What the-?” 

 

“Go, stupid,” Sleepy Ash drawled, shoving him into the main room. Hyde choked as he stumbled into the main room, drawing the attention of the others, and the sound in his head increased, the pressure making his head boil. 

 

“Hyde!” Mahiru called, and he removed his hands from his ears to squint toward him. “He just froze and passed out for a minute, and then he started doing…  _ this?”  _  Hyde couldn’t make out the rest of what he was saying over the sound as it whined higher in his ears, instead clumsily approaching them. All of Love shuffled out of the way to reveal Licht leaning back against the wall limply. Hyde’s breath hitched. 

 

A hand reached out to try and get Hyde’s attention, but he didn’t move as he took in Licht’s figure draped against the wall like a rag doll, head back against the wall but eyes staring straight ahead as he mumbled something under his breath, a continuing monologue that seemed breathless. 

 

The second he was close enough, Licht’s eyes swung over to Hyde, glassy and unfocused, and delirious laughter started to spill from his lips as the words kept coming; the noise in Hyde’s head stopped instantly.   _ Lich-tan?  _

 

“What is he saying? I don’t know this language,” Misono said, looking to Lily, who only shook his head. 

 

_ Words from long ago that he’d swallowed and kept to himself, branded in the same emerald name over and over again until it devolved into a song of madness and shifting meanings-  _

 

“Hugh, do you know?” Mahiru asked. Old Child hummed, stroking his chin. 

 

“I can’t say that I do, my boy,” he started, but Hyde cut him off. 

 

“You wouldn’t,” Hyde interrupted, not moving, eyes frozen on the shape of Licht’s lips as they mumbled through words that should have been buried long ago. “None of you would, and definitely not  _ him,”  _ he added, voice dropping to a whisper. 

 

“Then what the hell is it?” Misono barked, but Hyde ignored him, carefully kneeling in front Licht. 

 

“A language long dead and gone from a country of ash,” Hyde answered evasively, reaching out tap at Licht. “Lich-tan, can you hear me?” Licht only grinned like a madman, words slurred and hectic as he started to sing: 

 

_ “They bore him barefac’d on the bier  _

_ And in his grave rain’d many a tear  _

_ Fare you well, my dove!” _

 

“Stop singing, angel,” Hyde tried, reaching out to shake his arm, and Licht paused for a second, a brief moment of blue-eyed clarity before his head lolled onto his shoulder and he grinned again. 

 

“Is it because of you?” Sleepy Ash pointedly asked from where he’d stopped to stand behind Hyde. 

 

Hyde ground his teeth, knowing he was right but not wanting to reply. “Wake up, you idiot,” he mumbled instead, shaking Licht again, but he only hiccuped a giggle and kept singing. 

 

_ “There’s rosemary, for remembrance _

_ Pray, love, remember: and there is pansies  _

_ That’s for thoughts.”  _

 

_“Stop,_ dammit!” Hyde yelled, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him violently, to no avail despite his rising panic. _Fuck, this is my fault,_ ** _fuck-_**

 

_ “There’s fennel for you, and columbines: _

_ There’s rue for you  _

_ And here’s some for me.” _

 

“His nose,” All of Love whispered suddenly, and Hyde saw that it had started to drip with fresh blood. As Licht continued the next verse, Hyde suddenly tasted copper and his hand flew to his own nose, finding something smeared over his own fingers-

But black as fresh pitch.  __

 

“Oh my  _ god,” _ Mahiru blurted, eyes flicking between the two before stumbling to his feet in search of tissues. 

 

Licht was unbothered as the blood streamed down his face, creasing in his lips and his teeth as he continued the lines, which made Hyde’s gut clench as he realized which verse was coming next. 

 

_ “We may call it herb grace o’Sundays: _

_ O you must wear your rue with a difference.”  _

_ There’s a daisy:  _

_ I would give you some violets-”  _ Licht paused to laugh wetly, one hand coming up to press into his chest before continuing- 

_ “But they withered all when my-”  _

 

Hyde lunged forward and clapped a hand over Licht’s mouth, unable to stand hearing the rest.  _ Stop stop stop stop-  _

Licht froze abruptly, hand dropping limply to the ground before a single wet cough racked his chest. The familiar sting deep in Hyde’s chest echoed his cough, and he pulled his hand away from Licht’s lips to see his palm glittering with the blood that now caked Licht’s mouth. 

 

“What the hell is going  _ on?”  _ Misono demanded, but Hyde wasn’t listening as he felt around for the gap in their bond that was forcing Hyde’s mind to drip like poison into Licht’s, fumbling and messy. 

 

“Lawless, you knocked something loose,” Sleepy Ash said slowly, crouching beside him. “You’re drowning him.” 

 

“I  _ know,  _ okay?” Hyde snapped, whipping his head around to stare at his brother, fangs on display and a frustrated snarl in his voice. Sleepy Ash raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “I’m  _ trying _ to wake him up!” 

 

_ “Why is it so dark?” _ Licht suddenly asked, slipping back into his familiar German, joviality dropped.  _ “I can’t see anything.”  _

 

“You need to try harder,” Sleepy Ask mumbled, before his attention was drawn away to where Mahiru was asking Tetsu for help to reach the extra towels. 

 

Hyde looked back over to Licht, hesitant to touch him for fear of hurting him, of  _ breaking  _ him, fixated on the red smeared over pale white skin that was making the hair on the back of his neck stand up from the scent alone.  _ Should I try hurting him? I don’t want to, I don’t, but-  _

 

Licht’s head straightened back up and he blinked, looking directly at Hyde.  _ “Why are you crying, my Romeo?”  _ he asked in words not his own and Hyde’s breath froze, the old nickname scraping his lungs raw. 

 

Then he reached up and felt his face, finding his cheeks wet, but his fingers were stained black. 

_ Shit.  _

_ If I don’t wake him, I‘m going to end up killing him.  _

 

For the first time in a very long time, the idea of having his Eve’s blood on his hands made him ill. 

 

“Fuck,” he breathed to himself, before reaching out to snag Licht’s hand; Licht didn’t move, spare to continue staring blankly at Hyde. Hesitantly, Hyde tested himself, opening his mouth to hesitantly press one of Licht’s fingers against one of his fangs, slicing it neatly enough to bleed. 

 

Licht shuddered, eyes clearing for a moment, before falling back into his stupor. A gap in the bond had been mended, but it wasn’t fully enough. 

 

_ “Fuck,”  _ he repeated vehemently, before dropping Licht’s hand and smearing away the false tears burning down his face. “Okay, shit- you guys are gonna wanna move out of the way,” he said, glancing at the others and gesturing for them to scatter, “because I’m fairly certain I’m about to get kicked clear across the room.” 

 

“By doing  _ what?”  _ Mahiru asked as he returned, an armful of towels bundled against his chest. 

 

Hyde flashed him a grin, but there was no humour to its edges. “You should probably get a first aid kit while you’re at it,” he added. 

 

Mahiru paused, squinting. “Hyde, what do you think you’re-” 

 

“Just trust me and  _ get out of the way,”  _ Hyde insisted. Beside him, Misono grabbed All of Love and pulled him away, just as Sleepy Ash nudged Old Child back from where he was peering up curiously at Licht. 

 

Hyde sucked in a deep breath, trying to force away the bubble of anxiety and the prickle of embarrassment that warmed the back of his neck as his plan filtered through his head.  _ God, he’s going to kick me into next week, and I’ll be lucky if he doesn’t permanently break my ribs for this.  _

(He ignored the tiny impulse in him that was fever-bright with greedy lust, ecstatic and hungry.) 

 

“Oh, shit, this is gonna hurt,” he mumbled, settling himself in front of Licht, one hand creeping around the back of his head to slide gently into Licht’s hair. “Sorry,” Hyde added lowly, but Licht’s blank eyes didn’t respond, and he leaned forward- 

 

Only to sharply tug Licht’s head away from his shoulder and sink his teeth into the soft flesh right where Licht’s collarbone spread out into his shoulder, biting down as  _ hard _ as he could. 

 

“What are you  _ doing?”  _ he heard someone yell, but he only shut his eyes and pressed his fangs further into the skin, trying not to revel in the taste of Licht’s blood as it spilled messily into his mouth as the wounds tore. 

 

_ Come on you stupid angel, don’t make me drink you dry,  _ Hyde pleaded, pressing every desperate heartbeat against his mind in hopes that it would reach Licht. 

 

One beat- Licht’s fingers twitched, breath hitching, and Hyde’s fingers tightened in his hair-

Another beat- Licht gasped, and their chain erupted around them, blazing purple-gold and rattling in Hyde’s ears. 

 

_ YES!  _

 

Then, a wet gargle sounded from Licht before Hyde felt a hand around his throat, tearing him from Licht’s shoulder before a force shoved him clean across the room in a flash of sudden pain from Licht’s side of the bond. 

 

Once Hyde hit the ground in a shock of horrid sharpness, he forced himself up with a weak groan to see Licht glaring at him in a mess of rage, pain, and disbelief as he clamped one hand against his shoulder. “What the  _ fuck?”  _ he spit, voice uneven as he panted. 

 

“Told ya he’d kick me,” Hyde said weakly as he collapsed on his side, a sudden spasm of pain in his chest making him choke. The chain hummed and flashed, before purple burned all the way through it and suddenly evaporated. 

 

“Licht-san, are you okay?” Mahiru started, immediately dropping to look over him. 

 

Licht’s mind was whirling, blurry as if torn from a deep dream, but his head was pounding and his shoulder burned and  _ throbbed.  _ He could barely catch his breath, something sharp binding his lungs so that he couldn’t gasp as his mind was telling him to do, like he’d been drowning. Panic made his nerves twitch and jump and he leaned back into the wall, one hand pressed painfully into his wound while the other was fisted in the fabric of his shirt just over his heart. “What the  _ fuck,”  _ he repeated, this time less of a question and more the only words he could think of that could fit his current mindset. 

 

_ What the hell is going on  _

_ What just happened  _

_ Why does my head hurt  _

_ What did Hyde do  _

_ Why do I taste blood  _

_ Why does it feel like I want to throw up  _

**_Why do I feel like crying_ **

 

A hand at his shoulder jolted him from the torrent of  _ noise  _ in his head and he flinched away. “You need to let me bandage that,” Mahiru chided, but his words were warbled and fuzzy, “he bit you pretty hard.” 

 

“What?” Licht blurted, confused,  _ scared,  _ when the sound of Hyde hissing a breath made him look over to him. “What the fuck did you  _ do?”  _ His hand pressed harder into his shoulder as he shrank away from Mahiru’s prying fingers. 

 

“Had to wake the sleeping beauty,” Hyde croaked, flashing a blood-stained grin of fangs and something  _ sharp  _ before his lips twisted as he cringed. “You kinda taste funny, though, Lich-tan,” he added, before he choked, trying to force back a cough. 

 

As if Pavlovian, Licht felt a cough ache in his own chest, forcing something thick into his mouth, sour and soft. “Something’s- the hell?- it’s stuck in my-” Licht mumbled absently, before his fingers scraped at his teeth, probing, before latching at something jammed into the back of his teeth. As he pinched the object between his fingers and tried to draw it out, he heard Hyde start to gag and cough, doubled over in pain potent enough to reverberate in Licht’s own chest. 

 

Upon pulling his hand from his mouth and scrutinizing his fingers, Licht’s eyes suddenly widened, for pressed between them was a single petal, glistening with saliva and blood, perfectly round and dark, dark purple. 

 

“Is that-?” Mahiru started, before he was cut off by the sound of Hyde violently heaving, hands clamped desperately over his mouth even as blood started to drip through the cracks of his fingers. 

 

“Hyde?” Licht called, softer than he’d  _ ever _ heard himself say it, but Hyde didn’t look up as one of his hands slipped from his mouth to brace himself on the floor instead of falling over. Trying to catch his breath, his other hand- shaking, unsteady- slowly moved away from his lips, to reveal a mess of red and purple- 

 

Instead of Licht’s single petal, however, a disgusting snarl of full blossoms and torn leaves dripped out of Hyde’s palm, a mosaic of misery and a damning sign of decay. 

 

“Violets…” Hugh suddenly said, remembering and sober, “you had them before, didn’t you, brother?” 

 

_ Hyde, what does he- does he mean  _ **_her?_ ** Licht asked silently, and Hyde looked up at Licht with naked terror in his eyes, tears streaming down his face to smear the black already staining his cheeks. 

 

No one moved, no one spoke, no one dared to  _ breathe,  _ until Hyde suddenly clenched his fist around the flowers and forced himself wobbily to his feet to sprint for the door, feet hitting the ground heavily before Kuro raced after him with his name on his tongue; the door rattled shut as the scent of copper and rotting violets filled the air. 

 

Licht blinked, before looking down at the petal in his hands.  An ache lingered behind his breastbone, sore and heavy, as if his heart had been replaced with stones. His mind was empty yet rattling, and he felt as if he was stuck in a fever dream where everything was underwater. 

 

_ What just happened? _

 

“Someone needs to start explaining what the hell is going on  _ right now,”  _ Licht said loudly, crushing the petal between his fingers. 

 

Mahiru bit his lip, taking in a deep and heavy breath before letting it out, slowly seating himself in front of Licht. “Tetsu,” Mahiru said quietly, turning to him, “do you think you could find some antibiotics for me?” 

 

“‘Course,” Tetsu replied, before reaching down to tap at Hugh, who grudgingly reached up to grab his hand before Tetsu led them both out of the room. 

 

Licht scrunched his nose and tried to move away as Mahiru gingerly pulled at the hem of Licht’s shirt, trying to pry it away from the wound. “Don’t touch me,” he tried, but it was weak at best. 

 

Mahiru sighed sharply. “Licht-san, I’m going to need you to take off your shirt for me so I can clean this,” he explained. Licht huffed, turning his head away.  _ “Please. _ ” 

 

“I don’t need your help; I’ll heal,” Licht muttered, and Mahiru’s lips flattened into a thin line. 

 

“Is there anything we can do?” Lily called quietly, and Mahiru looked back at him, face brightening slightly.

 

“Yes, actually,” he said, “can you get a washcloth or two for me and wet them?” 

 

Lily nodded, moving to stand, only for Misono to intervene and haul him up instead, nearly pulling Lily off-balance in an attempt to help. 

 

Once they disappeared into the bathroom, Mahiru let out a breath. Licht eyed him warily. “You want to talk to me alone, don’t you?” he asked, but it was dry and rhetorical; his arms were still locked around himself, unyielding.

 

Mahiru huffed a laugh, but there was no humour in it. “Yeah, you caught me,” he said, and Licht snorted. “I know you want an explanation, but I figured having a horde of people around you right now wasn’t gonna be the way to do it.” Licht didn’t reply, but felt a bubble of warm relief bloom in his chest before an unfamiliar bite of resentment iced it over. “Now, unless you  _ want  _ it to stain more,  _ please  _ take off your shirt,” he nudged, and Licht made a sharp noise. 

 

“Fine,  _ fine,” _ he snapped, batting Mahiru’s hands away when he tried to help him, only to regret it when trying to pull his arm into his sleeve ripped a bolt of pain down his side.  _ “Fuck,”  _ he breathed, before tearing the whole shirt over his head in one swift and painful movement. He flung the offending article away from him, scowling at it before he rested his head against the wall, head throbbing, goosebumps prickling over his skin a both the sudden loss of warmth and the feeling of eyes skittering on him. 

 

“Thank you,” Mahiru said gently, and Licht grunted. 

 

“Just get on with it, dammit,” he mumbled, and Mahiru offered him a weak grin. 

 

“This is gonna sting, especially when Tetsu and Hugh come back with the antibiotics,” he said, but Licht scoffed. 

 

“I’ve felt worse,” Licht forced out, trying to get Mahiru to move on, only to groan internally when Mahiru looked back up in poorly-muted panic. 

 

“Are you telling me Hyde’s- um- been more…  _ rough  _ when he-?” 

 

_ “No,  _ god, shut  _ up,”  _ Licht cut off, shutting his eyes and banging his head against the wall, regretting the latter when a spike of pain ripped through his temples. What he  _ had  _ been thinking of were nights where his neck and his shoulders burned, fingers aching as he played the same notes over and over and  _ over  _ until his mind was nothing but those notes and  _ nothing else.  _

 

Mahiru frowned as he reached down for one of the dry washcloths. “Is he normally not then, when he drinks?” he asked. 

 

Licht made an uncomfortable noise in his throat, eyes remaining closed. “Don’t make it sound so weird,” he said, wincing when the first of foreign touches brushed the deepest of the wound. “He doesn’t like drinking that much, actually, especially recently.” 

 

“You mean after the incident with Tsubaki?” Mahiru asked, pressing the flat of his palm against the cloth into Licht’s wound to staunch the blood, cringing when Licht hissed. 

 

“Yeah, something like that,” he muttered, flexing his fingers in an effort to keep from screaming as the cloth peeled away from his skin. “He’s been weird ever since then anyway- not that I care.” He felt the need to tack the final part on automatically, but it only made his stomach twist. 

 

“Are you sure about that?” 

 

Licht opened an eye to stare at him. “Sure about  _ what?”  _ he said lowly, catching on his blood-smeared shoulder. He shuddered at the sight of the divots that ringed his shoulder, with four deeper wounds ripped and uneven, as if he’d thrashed against Hyde’s hold. Sickly warmth dripped into his stomach and he turned his head away. 

 

“Not caring.” 

 

Something sparked in Licht’s chest, and he whipped his head toward Mahiru to meet a cautiously knowing expression. “Of course,” Licht retorted, but he felt uneasy. “An angel doesn’t bother to cavort with  _ demons.”  _

 

Mahiru smiled sadly, almost pityingly, and a rush of annoyance flooded Licht’s veins. “Don’t force yourself,” Mahiru said, “you two have been through enough already.” 

 

Licht’s shoulder twinged, the slightest breeze making it sting as if begging for an answer. “Are you going to tell me exactly  _ what,  _ then, since I seem to be missing the pieces?” Licht diverted. 

 

“Has there ever been a moment where your bond seemed over-bright, like one of you was more present than the other?” Mahiru led, gently dabbing the cloth back at the wound. 

 

Licht snorted. “Try every day; you’re going to have to be more specific.” 

 

Mahiru’s eyebrows shot up, but he cleared his throat and reassembled his face, eyes focused on Licht’s shoulder. “Well, I think Hyde’s mind ended up spilling into yours unintentionally while he was sleeping,” he started, and Licht’s eyes went wide. “I did it once to Kuro accidentally, and he completely devolved into this…. horrible nightmare thing.” Mahiru paused for just a second, sucking on his lip guiltily before continuing. “He was okay afterward, but he had to be gunned down by the Envy pair before he stopped.” 

 

“Are you serious?” Licht asked. 

 

Mahiru nodded. “It was like he was melting this black goo everywhere, and something similar happened just now, though it came out of Hyde’s  _ eyes.”  _

 

_ Why are you crying, you fool? It’s undignified for a vampire,  _ an old voice chided gently, a ghost of a memory in a voice long-silenced by time. 

 

“What happened before that?” Licht heard himself say, but his eyes were unfocused, making the room blurry. 

 

“Well, you, erm, went all… weird and started mumbling something in a language I’ve never heard before in my life, but as soon as Hyde showed up you just started laughing like a crazy person and  _ singing.”  _

 

“Don’t be stupid- I’m an angel, not a madman,” he said hazily, mind trying to scrape together the distant golden memory that was on the tip of his tongue, a hair's breadth away from his outstretched hands. 

 

“If you say so,” Mahiru mumbled, looking up when the sound of the bathroom door sliding open caught his attention, revealing the Lust pair. He nodded at them before turning back to Licht, pulling the cloth away again. “The reason Hyde bit you was because you wouldn’t wake up no matter how much he shook you or yelled.” 

 

“We  _ all  _ tried, but it was like you were stuck in a dream-state of some sort,” Lily added, kneeling to hand Mahiru a neatly folded washcloth. 

 

“Here; I found a first aid kit under the sink,” Misono said, and Mahiru took it gratefully from him; Licht’s skin crawled from the sudden crowding. 

 

“Okay, this is gonna be cold- bear with me,” Mahiru warned, and Licht sucked a breath through his teeth when the water bit at the wounds. He squeezed his eyes shut, and reverted back to an old habit he used to use to keep himself focused when he felt himself falling asleep before he’d finished working.  _ White, black, white, black, white, white-  _

 

“What-  _ ow!”  _ Licht complained when Mahiru pressed a little too hard as he swiped away the blood, grimacing when Mahiru offered a rushed _S_ _ orry!  _ to him and pulled his hands away. “What do the flowers mean?” 

 

Mahiru knit his eyebrows. “What do you mean?” 

 

“You know how Hanahaki works, don’t you?” Misono chimed in, and Licht blew out a rough breath. 

 

“Shut up, I know what it is,” Licht snapped, remembering his romantic of a mother telling stories of the woeful souls of  _ Teufelblume  _ falling back into love and being saved at the last minute, but not of the gore, the horror, the  _ ugly.  _

 

“Full flowers mean that he’s in the next stage,” Lily said softly, seeing through Licht’s attempt to hide his ignorance. “It look much longer last time for them to bloom fully, but now that they’ve gone from buds to blossoms mean that it’s getting worse.” 

 

_ Of course it is,  _ Licht thought tiredly, too exhausted to try and be angry.  _ Stupid hedgehog.  _

 

“He’s just gonna keep getting worse, isn’t he?” Licht asked flatly, shutting his eyes against both Mahiru’s ministrations and the expressions he knew he’d see. 

 

“I’m afraid so,” Lily said soberly, and Licht felt at a loss. He was insulted that Hyde was putting them both through this hell because he had his head up his ass, but also deeply frustrated that Hyde would only get sicker the longer it dragged on and that Licht- angel or not- couldn’t do a damn thing about it. 

 

_ He can’t leave me because I’ll either strangle him or he’ll kill me with the distance limit, but he won’t let me help, yet he also won’t fucking get over himself, so we have both have to just wallow until something gives.  _ As the thought solidified and settled into his stomach, anger burned through him.  _ “Dammit!”  _ he swore, slamming a fist into the wall and making Mahiru jump, before dragging a hand through his hair harshly enough to make his scalp ache.  _ Why does it fucking  _ **_annoy_ ** _ me so much?  _

 

_ Maybe if you took a fucking look for once you’d realize something,  _ Hyde snapped in his head, uncharacteristically harsh, words viciously violet. 

 

_ Shut up,  _ Licht snarled back, hand sliding from his hair to cover his face.  _ “Just shut your fucking mouth,”  _ he hissed, anger and  _ hurt  _ making the German slide and waver just enough like an instrument out of tune. 

(He was glad he’d pressed his hand against his face as he felt his eyes burn, sharp and angry.) 

 

Mahiru kept his head down, knowing not to push it, and kept quiet as he continued cleaning Licht’s shoulder; even putting the antibiotic and fresh bandages on it didn’t make Licht move, barely flinching. 

 

_ Don’t force it,  _ was the faint blip he caught from Kuro, and it made his chest ache as he saw how dejected and  _ tired  _ Licht was, as if the weight of his bond with Hyde was crushing him.  _ (It’s starting to work its way through… he has to realize it sooner or later.)  _

 

***

 

“Do you  _ ever  _ plan on telling him?” 

 

Hyde side-eyed his brother from under his bangs, petulant and silent. He blew out an even breath and let himself fall back on the grass of the garden he’d fled to, hidden in the shade of the cherry blossom tree above them. The small koi pond bubbled gently from the waterfall that fed into it, the only sound spare that of the wind warm on his skin as it blew around him. He dropped his hands on his face, raw from trying to scrub away the tears there and sucked in a breath. “No.” 

 

Sleepy Ash clicked his tongue. “Then you’re being an idiot,” he chided, and Hyde made a frustrated noise in his throat. “The worst he can do is get mad at you, and you two fight like you  _ breathe.”  _

 

“I don’t want to tell him,” Hyde offered, a weak excuse for the deafening words he  _ wanted  _ to say: 

 

_ I don’t want to lose him.  _

 

“I think he’s too stubborn to nullify the contract, if that’s what you’re worried about.” 

 

“That’s not it.” 

 

Sleepy Ash sat up from where he was leaned against the bark of the tree to prop his elbows on his crossed legs, cupping his chin in his hands to stare at Hyde. “Then what the hell  _ is it?”  _

 

Hyde scoffed derisively, shifting his hands away to slide his arm over his eyes, trying to block out the pain burning in his chest. “You know, I thought  _ you  _ of all people would understand my situation,” he said, and he could feel the palpable confusion emanating from Sleepy Ash.

 

“What do you mean?” Sleepy Ash asked, genuine enough to pick his voice out of the dip of that uninterested drawl of his. 

 

Hyde snorted, dropping his arm to look up at his brother. “Are you serious? I  _ obviously  _ mean that sparkler of an Eve you have and the fact that you two are terribly married,” he replied, sarcasm dripping from every syllable. 

 

Sleepy Ash squinted at him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said evenly, and Hyde threw his hands up in frustration. 

 

“Never mind, you’re still as hopeless as ever, stupid cat,” he said, and Sleepy Ash rolled his eyes. 

 

“Like you can call me hopeless when you’re two seconds from death with that Hanahaki of yours and the object of your  _ affliction _ is  _ literally  _ right in front of you,” Sleepy Ash retorted, and Hyde made a disinterested noise, pulling the fabric of his scarf over his face to block Sleepy Ash out. “I get Ophelia and wallowing in that for years, but Licht isn’t dead; ignoring him and hoping it just goes away isn’t going to work.” 

 

“It’s not like it can kill me,” Hyde tried, but Sleepy Ash kissed his teeth, reaching out to hook a claw in the scarf and yanking it off of his face. 

 

“Stop evading- it’s fucking annoying,” he snapped, and Hyde held his hands up in surrender. “Just  _ talk to him,  _ you idiot; it’s as simple as that.” 

 

Hyde bit back a laugh. “‘Simple’, huh? Mahiru’s really rubbin’ off on ya, isn’t he?” 

 

Sleepy Ash scowled at him. Hyde snickered. 

 

“Yeah, Licht’s kinda dense, but he isn’t  _ stupid,”  _ Sleepy Ash continued. 

 

“Debatable,” Hyde muttered under his breath, and Sleepy Ash nudged him with his foot. 

 

“What I’m  _ trying  _ to say is that he’s made a hell of an impact on you whether either of you care to admit it, and you’re just going to fuck up your relationship with him if you keep up the whole ‘ignorance and apathy’ routine,” he finished. 

 

Hyde blinked, before his face split into a lazy grin. “I gotta say, I think that’s the longest sentence I’ve heard come outta your mouth since- well-  _ forever,”  _ he teased, but Sleepy Ash’s face remained flat and entirely unamused. 

 

“Can you stop being an asshole for ten seconds? It’s irritating,” Sleepy Ash said dryly, and Hyde barked a laugh. 

 

“That’s not being an asshole, brother dear, it’s called  _ charisma,”  _ Hyde argued, and Sleepy Ash heaved a sigh from centuries-old annoyance. 

 

“I can guarantee that not a  _ single  _ person who knows you thinks that.” 

 

Hyde pouted. “Well that’s just  _ rude.”  _

 

Sleepy Ash huffed a laugh at that, and they fell into silence for a bit. Hyde shut his eyes, trying to shut out the image of Licht’s horrified expression when violets spilled into Hyde’s hands, trying to forget how he collapsed the minute Sleepy Ash reached him in the garden and broke into fresh tears. He hated himself and the crippling pain in his chest, knowing it was his own damn fault that he let what had merely been a passing fancy, a fleeting interest take root in his lungs and devour him from the inside out, making him weak-hearted and weak-minded.  _ (What kind of Servamp of Greed am I?)  _

 

Sleepy Ash had stayed silent, helping him mop the blood off of his face even as Hyde cried harder than he could remember since Ophelia, frustrated and  _ done.  _ He knew keeping to himself was only going to make it worse, but he also knew that trying to even broach the topic with Licht would end up with nothing but misplaced rage and most likely physical wounds.  _ He’s always been so alone, even when he was younger… what would it even be like to watch him fall in love with someone?  _

 

(Hyde didn’t want to think about the answer to that question.) 

 

The sound of a timer going off shattered the moment, and Hyde lurched up in shock as he shoved his hands into his pockets to yank out his phone, blanching when he saw the time. “Oh  _ shit,”  _ he wheezed, clumsily rocketing up to his feet, “oh, I’m  _ so dead.”  _

 

Sleepy Ash raised an eyebrow. “What, got an appointment?” 

 

Hyde groaned and shoved his phone back into his pocket. “I keep forgetting I swapped my shift,” he answered, looking down at his lack of proper clothes. “Fuck, I’m gonna be late and Boss-man’s gonna have my head on a pike.” 

 

“You  _ can’t  _ be serious,” he started, brushing off his pants as he stood. He grabbed Hyde’s shoulder when he didn’t listen, forcing Hyde to face him. “Lawless, you just started the next stage of Hanahaki and vomited up a flower shop’s worth of violets, and you want to  _ work?”  _

 

Hyde shook his head. “You don’t understand-” 

 

“Yeah, actually, I  _ do,”  _ Sleepy Ash cut off darkly, and it was then that Hyde realized just how  _ big  _ Sleepy Ash could make himself when he actually tried, “and trying to avoid him by stupidly  _ working’s  _ just gonna make him even more pissed at you.” 

 

Hyde shrugged. “It’s worked so far,” he tried, and shrank away from the annoyance in Sleepy Ash’s eyes. “Well, it’s either that or face him directly and just get worse, so excuse me for trying to not cough out my lungs again today,” tacked on bitterly, shrugging Sleepy Ash’s hand off his shoulder. Sleepy Ash took in a slow breath, deliberating, before he let the breath out and leaned forward, catching Hyde by surprise as he wrapped his arms around him. “What’re you-?” 

 

“Just shut up, you idiot little brother,” Sleepy Ash muttered. 

 

It was clear that Sleepy Ash wasn’t used to initiating affection, but it meant everything to Hyde knowing that only a few months ago, Hyde would’ve rather slit his brother’s throat than attempt to even look him in the face.  _ Another thing to thank you for, Shirota Mahiru.  _

 

Sleepy Ash released him then, looking him in the eye. “Since I know you aren’t planning on listening to me, don’t kill yourself while you’re out,” he said. “You know Tsubaki’s subclasses are looking for us.” 

 

“Jesus, Mahiru really  _ is  _ rubbing off you,” Hyde teased as Sleepy Ash bristled, “listen to yourself, ya worrywart!” 

 

“Stop being annoying and just go,” Sleepy Ash mumbled, and Hyde barked a laugh when he saw that Sleepy Ash’s ears had gone pink. 

 

“Will do,” he said, saluting, and Sleepy Ash grumbled a _W_ _ hy the hell do I bother with you  _ under his breath. 

“How do you even get to work at this hour?” 

 

Hyde flashed a toothy grin. “I’m two pounds of adorable in the sun and no one suspects a thing,” he answered, “and besides, I’ve had practice avoiding the light.” 

 

Sleepy Ash shook his head tiredly. “Of course you have.” 

 

For the first time in a while, the smile on Hyde’s face didn’t hurt, though it faded as he and Sleepy Ash switched to their animal forms and raced through the sunny garden; Hyde made his way through the halls unseen as he padded his way back to their suite, slipping in through the door and into their bedroom to change undetected before leaving out the window. 

 

_ I’m sorry, Licht, but I don’t think I can face you right now.  _

 

(Little did he know he was going to face him sooner than he’d like.) 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the words that Licht is reciting is actually the bat-shit crazy monologue Ophelia sings right before her untimely death; it just so happened to have a line with violets in it and I KNEW I had to use it!!
> 
> And the bolded words at the beginning chapter are from the song Think of Me of Phantom.


	8. Why Have You Brought Me Here?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Work won't erase the truth, no matter how much to try to shove it aside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cups hands around mouth* LICHT, COME PICK UP YOUR MISTAKE OF A SERVAMP

“He  _ what?”  _

 

“Licht-san, please don’t yell, we have neighbors.” 

 

_ “Fuck  _ the neighbors!” 

 

“Really, you need to watch your phrasing.” 

 

“Kuro, just…. tell us what happened  _ without  _ the sarcasm.”  

 

Kuro shoved his hands in his pockets, looking drained. “You already heard me; he went to work, end of story,” he said, and Licht clenched his fists so tightly that he simultaneously cut his nails into his palm while his Lead unconsciously crackled into life around his shins. 

 

“You’re not gonna kick me,” Kuro said tiredly, just as Mahiru reached out with a panicked and pleading  **_please_ ** _ put your boots away, Licht-san.  _ “I tried talking him out of it but you know how he is.” 

 

“I’m going to fucking  _ skin him,”  _ Licht hissed and Mahiru winced. 

 

“I’m sure he’ll be okay-” 

 

“Where the hell does he work?” Licht interrupted, demanding, and Mahiru knit his eyebrows, irritation at being cut off evaporating. 

 

“Do you… not know?” he asked. Licht looked away like a stubborn dog, Lead fizzling out. 

 

“I never bothered to ask because he always worked so late,” he answered, guilt and irritation coloring his words a curious shade of indigo. “He always came back by morning anyway, and it wasn’t ever out of the distance limit.” 

 

Mahiru’s eyes flickered over to Kuro, who only shook his head. “His shift’s until ten,” Kuro offered in the wake of the awkward silence, “but that’s all he told me.”

 

“Fine.” Licht said nothing else before he stalked back to the bedroom and slid the door shut, ignoring the calls of his name. Now alone, he turned his thoughts inward, focusing on the boiling resentment making his fingers itch. 

 

Dropping onto the futon, he tore his hands through his hair, eye catching on the streak of white that fell into his face. He tugged on it once before letting it go, scrubbing his hands down his face. He started to categorize the nonsense in his head, trying to box it all away so he could focus, until everything was stripped away and labeled: 

 

_ Violet, violent petals that made his stomach churn  _ **_(What aren’t you telling me?)_ **

_ Indigo bitterness that hummed and hissed as it tried to force its way from Licht’s lungs no matter how hard he tried to keep it down  _ **_(What are you trying to tell me?)_ **

_ Blue that pulled at his heart until it was seafloor-bound and heavy, seeping into his head from a heart long used to solitude and stone  _ **_(What are you hiding?)_ **

_ Green and emerald and earth and love scorned by death in a stubborn scar that refused to heal  _ **_(Why are you hiding?)_ **

_ Gold on yellow on auriferous sparks that burned under his skin with every well-placed word like a Lichtenberg figure scattering electric bruises down his spine  _ **_(What are you doing to me?)_ **

_ Orange-rust frustration that chafed at his throat, at his tongue as he couldn’t ever find the right words to say  _ **_(Why are you doing this to me?)_ **

_ Red, deadly and alluring, a silent alternative for the question that he sought an answer for, poisonous and horrible and painful and therefore not true because that means he’s in- _

 

The last thought upturned his system, sudden and out of the blue despite how it made his heart burn in crimson, and he shoved it away before it could fully solidify. 

**_(Why do you think you hold him at arm’s length even though you want to hold him closer?)_ **

 

“No,” he whispered to no one, not even to himself, a silent psalm given to a mind that wouldn’t listen. He felt the bond shift and bend, trying to reach him, but Licht shut it out entirely in a flash of fury. 

 

The rage faded away to blue, heavy and unfamiliar, and Licht felt as if he could suddenly sleep for eternity. 

 

Instead, he reached for his notebook he’d left shoved under his pillow and began to write, hazy and unfocused as the azure notes spilled incessantly and messily from his fingers until minutes turned into hours. 

***

 

Loitering in the storage room of a convenience store, Hyde braced himself on a wall as one hand fisted the front of his shirt as he tried to catch his breath. The chain around his neck was twisted around his fingers, bitingly cold, but it did nothing to stave off the burn under his skin as unyielding music spilled uncensored into his mind potent enough to bring tears to his eyes and petals from his lungs.  _ Licht, stop, I’m sorry, but I can’t breathe-  _

 

“Oi, Blondie, did you die back there?” 

 

Hyde opened his mouth to reply, but a cough forced its way out instead, and he clamped a hand over his lips.  _ Shit, he’s shut me out-  _

 

“Hello? You okay?” 

 

Hyde couldn’t answer before he collapsed to his knees, fire burning its way through his chest and the smell of blood filling his sinuses and he could focus on nothing else. 

 

\-----

 

By hour three since Hyde’s sudden departure, Licht had settled onto the couch and buried himself in the work it took to try and transpose the next section of his piece, Kranz’s messages flashing on his phone reminding that he wanted to take him out for dinner to discuss the next concert. Mahiru had peeked over his shoulder to peer at Licht’s work, giving Licht a look after he snapped at Mahiru to go away, and he just shrugged and plopped down at the table with Hugh and Kuro to play cards. 

 

With one earbud in and a pencil tapping at his notebook as he listened and reworked, Licht tried to focus on connecting the mismatched pieces he had so far: a blood-stained, rage-soaked beginning that tasted of copper, maroon that ached and pulled at Licht’s lungs like an ancient ocean current trying to drown him, and now his newest addition, which tasted of salt and hurt and unknowingness, dipping low into the keys of his left hand, but- 

 

_ Something’s missing. I can’t find the connection,  _ he thought to himself, frustrated as he saw no way to link the work he already struggled through. Each piece felt like an unconnected story, like fragments of a mirror he’d smashed in front of him, and was mocking him with hundreds of warped reflections of himself. Deeper and deeper he dug, searching and searching and  _ aching  _ as he slid down further in his seat until he was swimming in the collar of his hoodie and sweltering in the summer heat. He couldn’t be bothered to move, however, nor take off the hoodie out of sheer spite. (To whom? He wasn’t quite sure.)

 

He was interrupted when a ringtone chimed loudly through his earbud, making him cringe before he scowled at the screen.  _ Kranz, I swear to god, if you try and call me again when I already told you not to- _

 

His train of thought derailed when he saw that the caller ID was decidedly  _ not  _ Kranz. 

 

Licht snatched up his phone and jammed the  _ answer  _ button, tugging his headphones out of the jack and pressing the phone to his ear, chewing angrily on his lip as he waited for the call to go through. When he clicked into connection, he instantly went off. “You better have a  _ damn good  _ explanation for what the hell you think you’re doing, you shitty fucking rat,” he hissed, drawing the attention of the table-goers nearby. 

 

_ “Well, I’m gonna guess I’ve reached Lawless’ infamous Todoroki-kun?”  _ a female voice filtered through, and Licht’s mind slammed to a halt. 

 

“Who the hell are you?” he blurted, and the voice chuckled. 

 

_ “Call me Hiro. I’m Lawless’ manager, and considering he’s about half-dead in my office right now, I’m gonna need you to come get him because there’s no way in hell I’m lettin’ him walk no matter how stubborn he may be,”  _ she answered, smooth and certain. 

 

Licht blew out a deep breath, pinching his nose. “He’s probably just fucking around,” he said, “and how do you know who I am anyway?” 

 

_ “Cool the venom, kid, damn,”  _ she chided, and he pursed his lips.  _ “Even  _ **_without_ ** _ Lawless bein’ the chatterbox from hell, Austrian piano prodigies are pretty hot gossip.”  _ Licht blinked, dubious.  _ “Now, are you gonna come get your mistake of a friend before he’s drowned himself in flowers or do I have to ship him to you in a crate? ‘Cause I gotta lot of those here and he’s takin’ up a lot of room.”  _

 

“Okay, fine, I’ll come, just- send me the damn address,” he ceded, and she snorted. “What’s so funny?” 

 

_ “He really wasn’t joking when he called you dense,”  _ she replied, irritatingly knowing, and annoyance flashed in his stomach. 

 

“Just send it,” he deadpanned, and she sighed. 

 

_ “Suit yourself, lover-boy.”  _ His phone buzzed by his ear a few seconds later, and he pulled it back to see a new message shining up at him.  _ “Now hurry up; I don’t want people thinking I’m harboring some dying animal back here or something.”  _ The phone clicked off, and he stared at the blank screen incredulously for a few seconds. 

 

“What was that all about?” Kuro called, and Licht shook his head with an absent sigh. 

 

“His manager said she wants me to come get him because he’s hacking his lungs out,” he said flatly, opening the message from  _ SHIT RAT  _ to see that she’d sent him a link to a convenience store. 

 

“I thought his boss was a man?” Mahiru chimed in, but Licht ignored him as he swiped down the search page past the store hours to find the address. 

 

“Me too,” Kuro muttered, “guess not. Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

 

Squinting at the screen, Licht clicked the address to open a map, showing him he was only a fifteen-minute walk or so away from the hot springs.  _ Wait a minute.  _ Zooming out, he saw that the convenience store was only half-an-hour away at most from the hotels Kranz typically picked for them, and something unknown tickled at the back of Licht’s breastbone.  _ He planned this… _

 

“You going?” 

 

Licht looked up to meet Kuro’s gaze, though they both already knew the answer to his question. 

 

Licht shoved his headphones in his pocket and dropped his notebook on the couch cushions, running a hand through his hair. “It’s either that or let his manager put him down, and I’d rather keep that honor for myself,” he mumbled, before huffing and making his way over to the bedroom. Sliding open the door, he leaned around the doorframe to snag his shoes from where he’d thrown them at Hyde’s head the other night for being obnoxious. “I’ll be back,” he called flatly as he sloppily tugged the boots over his shins, ignoring Mahiru’s shout of  _ Wait, don’t you want someone to go with you?  _ as he let the suite door shut loudly enough to let them know not to try following him. 

 

It wasn’t until he was halfway out of the hot springs that the gravity of the situation settled over him, heavy and cold in his stomach, and he felt something flutter in his chest, sharp-winged and icy. Licht shut his eyes against the pressure starting to pound in his head, letting the ribbon of their bond guide him forward. 

 

*** 

 

Each step toward his destination was laced in razor wire as he wound down the sidewalk, watching as the streets shifted and faded into colorfully-lit shopfronts and crowds of people shifting and blurring around him, the sweet scent of Japanese summer curling around him. With his head low and mind only focused on the electric pulse of the bond slowly beckoning him closer and closer, he thought he saw the glimpse of what it was like to be a mere human for just a moment, milling and unknown-  _ don’t be stupid,  _ he chastised,  _ you’re still an angel no matter what.  _

(Something weak laughed within him in a voice that wasn’t his own.) 

 

Though the pleased hum curling warmly in his head told him he was already there, he looked down at his phone to check anyway, squinting to see that the address did indeed match the soft neon sign flickering over the glass sliding doors. Leaning around the side to peer in, he knit his eyebrows when he found the store to be empty. He frowned and walked forward, letting the doors ding and slide open to let him stalk into the shop, which was much bigger than it appeared from the outside. 

 

Upon second glance, he saw two people by the edge of the store, talking quietly to themselves as they debated over something in the snack aisle, but he paid them no attention as he walked forward to the register where he saw the door labeled  _ EMPLOYEES ONLY  _ slightly ajar. “Hello?” he called, peering cautiously around, “I’m looking for a Hiro?” 

 

“Well I’ll be damned, only took  _ one  _ call to get you in here,” Hiro’s voice said from behind, and he whipped around to face her. The first thing that caught his eye was that she was  _ tall,  _ easily bigger than he was, the arms crossed over her chest making her appear larger. Her dark hair was tied back into a ponytail, exposing a searching and curious face sizing him up; her name tag read  _ M. Hiroko. _ “Hm, he wasn’t kidding when he said you were pretty,” she added, and he felt his face burn. 

 

“When he  _ what?”  _ he snapped, and she waved him off. 

 

“Chill, angel boy,” she scolded, and he clicked his tongue at the nickname, sliding his hands into his pockets. That was when he noticed the second thing, which were the pale patches of skin mottling her arms and around her eyes, contrasting the tan of her skin. He blinked, squinting, and she scoffed. “Stop staring, kid, it’s rude.” 

 

He paused before sighing. “Where is he?” he diverted, and he saw the corner of her lips twitch up into a smile. 

 

She tilted her head toward the employee door. “Second door down the hall,” she said, and he nodded, starting to move toward the counter, before a hand caught at his shoulder. He flinched, trying to shrug her off, but she only tightened her grip on him. 

 

_ “What?”  _

 

Darkness flashed in her eyes, and Licht felt the faintest twinge of fear for a minuscule second. “Don’t take that tone with me,” she scolded, and he kissed his teeth. She rolled her eyes. “I just wanted to ask how you could let his Hanahaki get so bad without doing anything about it.” 

 

Licht scowled and shook her off roughly, to which she held her hands up in surrender. “There’s nothing  _ to  _ be done,” he replied icily, and she let out an even breath. 

 

“I’m sure there’s  _ something,”  _ she insisted, and a flush of guilt washed through him. He made his way around the counter in lieu of answering and shoved the door open, met with the sight of a small but low-lit hallway. 

 

He followed the guiding pull of the bond until its warm fingers led him to the pulsing, frantic heartbeat behind the door labeled _I_ _ mportant People Only.  _ He paused, fingers unconsciously tightening in the front of his shirt as the bond coiled around him, nudging him forward until he gently pressed his fingertips against the door and pushed it open just a fraction of an inch. “Hiro-san, I thought I told you to let me die in peace,” Hyde’s voice croaked from inside, and he coughed wetly. 

 

Pushing it further open, Licht saw that the room was drowned in darkness, the only light coming from the  barely-darkened computer screen. Licht could see the faint shape of Hyde bent over what looked like a mop bucket as he heaved, and as Licht pushed the door further open, the light of the hallway slowly spilled over him. “You look like shit,” Licht announced eloquently, and he saw Hyde’s fingers clench on the edge of the bucket. 

 

“Go away,” Hyde hissed, not moving, but Licht could see his shoulders shaking from exertion. 

 

“I’m taking you back,” Licht started, stepping into the room- 

 

Until the bond snapped like an ice-cold whip, sharp and visceral as Hyde turned his head just enough so that a single eye glowed eerily in the low-light like a feline, vicious and desperate all the same. “You’re just going to make it worse- get  _ out!”  _

 

Licht’s eyes went wide, and every human instinct in him froze at the sight of rage-painted hurt in a shaking frame, where the blood on Hyde’s chin was painted black by the darkness of the room. 

 

Then Licht remembered who and _what_ he was and curled his fingers into fists, storming into the room until he was inches in front of Hyde’s face with divine fury in his eyes.  _ “I’m _ not the one who’s deluded himself into this situation,” he snarled, anger only ratcheting higher when he saw not shock but  _ irritation  _ flicker over Hyde’s face. 

 

“Watch your tongue,  _ angel,”  _ Hyde warned, but his words were warped by stomach acid. 

 

Licht crouched down, remaining at eye-level, challenging Hyde-  _ daring  _ him to try and fight him. “You’re pathetic, hiding in the dark like this and blaming  _ someone else _ for it.” 

 

“Will you just _shut up_ and go away? You don’t know a _damn_ thing,” Hyde argued, and Licht scoffed, opening his mouth to reply before Hyde gagged, slapping a hand to his mouth and shutting his eyes. He shrank away from Licht to lean against the leg of the desk, coughing weakly. “Just leave me alone.” 

 

Licht pressed his lips into a thin line, the curlingly acrid smell of violets and copper making the spring of irritation in his chest wind tighter. “Your  _ manager  _ called me to come pick your sorry ass up because you thought  _ working _ in this condition would have been perfectly fine,” he said lowly, and Hyde’s eyes widened just a fraction before he groaned and dragged a hand down his face. 

 

“‘Course she did, son of a bitch,” he muttered, and Licht felt a wave of sick frustration crash over him, exhausted. “Phones get collected for insurance, not  _ blackmail.”  _

 

“What are you babbling on about, shit-rat?” 

 

Hyde just blew out a breath and let himself fall backward, shifting off the desk leg to flop backward until he was lying under the desk with with face in his hands. His chest shook with every breath he took, every other one a cough that sparked in Licht’s own ribcage. “It hurts, dammit,” he whispered, barely audible, and Licht’s heart twinged. 

 

“I’m not letting you work anymore in this state,” he urged, reaching out to smack at Hyde’s foot, “so shut up and let me take you back.” 

 

Hyde barked a weak laugh. “Oh, so the angel  _ does  _ care for the lowly,  _ pathetic _ demon,” he crowed, spitting Licht’s own word back at him. 

 

Licht wasn’t able to restrain the immediate words that ran to the tip of his tongue, frustration forcing them out before he could stop them. “I  _ do,  _ you piece of shit.” 

 

Hyde’s head lurched up to stare at him incredulously, glasses askew and eyes laughably wide, and Licht felt his ears burn. “What was that?” Hyde choked, and Licht turned his head away with a grunt. 

 

“If I leave your dingy hedgehog ass here you’ll just rot into the floor and make a mess,” Licht continued, “so it’s better if you’re at least somewhere with people you know.” His hands fell to the cheap carpet, picking at the strands and determinately not looking at Hyde. 

 

Something soft brushed the inside of Licht’s ribcage, where his heart was beating bruises into his chest. “That’s strangely kind for you, Angel-chan,” Hyde said quietly, and Licht’s eyes flicked up to meet his, internally recoiling when he saw what could only be described as  _ fondness  _ on Hyde’s face. 

 

“Just shut up before I grind your shitty bones into the carpet,” Licht muttered, forcing himself up and brushing off the back of his jeans. “I have a meeting with Kranz and if I’m late because of you you’re  _ dead fucking meat.”  _

 

Hyde chuckled lightly as he struggled to stand, leaning against the desk to catch his breath before wincing. Something in Licht’s chest withered as he watched Hyde cringe and press a palm to his chest, trying to staunch the pain, and the wound in his shoulder stung in second-hand empathy. “Give me a second,” he wheezed, his other hand squeezing the edge of the desk so tightly his knuckles went white. 

 

_ “Oi, pretty boy, come here for a minute!”  _ Hiro’s voice called from just outside the door. Licht looked hesitantly toward Hyde, who waved him off wordlessly before he struggled to contain another bout of chest-aching coughs. Licht clenched his jaw in silence before cautiously slipping out of the office door. 

 

Hiro was leaning against the outside wall, eyes instantly meeting his with a sharpness that made Licht want to recoil. _ (She just heard every word, didn’t she-)  _  He refused to and met her eye instead, shutting the door and slipping his hands into the pocket of his hoodie. “What do you want?” 

 

She shook her head with a laugh, a defeated smile on her face. “You’ll figure it out at some point,” she said sadly, before rifling through her pockets and handing something over. Licht caught the glint of the familiar gunmetal black of Hyde’s phone, caseless but with a small obnoxious yellow sticker in the bottom corner: a smiley face with fangs, a joke Licht had once pointed out but Hyde immediately grabbed just for the hell of it. “Take this too,” she said, and produced a small bottle of something from her apron and pressing it into his palm, “tell ‘im it’s a gift from me.” 

 

Licht squinted at it, bringing it up to his face. “What  _ is  _ it?” he asked, watching as the clear liquid inside bubbled innocuously. 

 

She barked a laugh. “Everclear,” she explained, and he ran a thumb over the letters of it over the pale yellow label. “Small but mighty; was saving it for myself, but I think he’s in need of the kick more than I am right now.” He blinked at the tiny numbers he saw etched under the title- a tiny  _ 151 proof-  _ and tucked it away into his pocket with the phone. “While it’s no cure for Hanahaki, it’ll at least take some of the sting away.” Not knowing what to say, Licht only nodded jerkily, and she laughed again, full-bodied and bright. 

 

_ “Angel-chan,  _ I can’t have you charming away the love of my life,” Hyde’s voice suddenly complained through the wood of the door, creaking open to show a sliver of his pout behind it. 

 

“Don’t be an idiot,” Licht muttered, and regretted his choice of retort when Hyde suddenly draped himself heavily over Licht, arms wrapping around his neck as he whined loudly in Licht’s ear. 

 

“You’ve  _ already  _ won the hearts of everyone else you meet! And there’s the audiences and all of the lovely girls who  _ swoon  _ over you for a second to interview you-” 

 

“Shut  _ up-”  _

 

“For how truly  _ incredible _ you are, angel, ‘ _ and when love speaks, the voice of  _ **_all_ ** _ the gods makes Heaven drowsy with the harmony’-!” _

 

His borrowed monologue was cut off when a red-face Licht stomped as hard as he could on Hyde’s foot, making him  _ shriek  _ and slide off of Licht to dramatically nurse his injured foot. Licht scowled at him and brushed his shoulder off. “Damn Shakespeare freak,” he muttered, and Hiro snorted. Licht looked over to her to see an eyebrow raised high on her face and a knowing teasing in her eyes and in the quirk of her lips. Licht’s neck burned at her expression, though his embarrassment was diverted when Hyde paused to cough just once but  _ viscerally  _ enough to shake through their bond. 

 

When Licht turned around, Hyde had dropped petulantly to ground to sit cross-legged as he pounded on his chest. Hyde looked up to see Licht staring down at him, concerned, and he cracked a crooked grin. “What, did I scare you, angel?” 

 

_ (Yes-) _

 

“Of course not, stupid Hyde,” Licht replied, watching as a faint blip of surprise rippled across Hyde’s face and through their minds at Licht’s slip of his given name before he huffed a laugh and hauled himself to his feet with none of the typical inhuman grace he normally showed; Licht could still see some of the blood Hyde had tried to smear off his chin dark and drying. 

 

“You two are a fucking trip,” Hiro cut in, amused,  and Licht whipped around to face her. “However,  _ he’s  _ on the brink of death and  _ I _ still have a store to run, so I’m gonna need you to take this menace back home for me, alright?” 

 

Licht bit back a laugh at the insulted noise that left Hyde’s mouth.  _ “‘Menace’?  _ I’ll have you know I’m your  _ favorite  _ employee!” 

 

“Hm, Licht-kun, what d’you think?” she countered, ignoring Hyde. 

 

Licht crossed his arms and tilted his head, the faintest edge of a grin sliding over his face. “I’ve never seen the bastard do a single thing productive in his life outside of whining and lazing around,” he said, and three things happened- 

 

Licht and Hiro burst into laughter as Hyde squawked;

Hyde’s complaint cut off as a sharply wet cough erupted from his lips and he stumbled;

Licht immediately reached out to steady him, one arm slipping around Hyde’s back to support his weight while the other pressed lightly to the front of Hyde’s chest as it shook and jumped under his touch. 

 

“Jesus,” Licht breathed as Hyde cringed and settled into Licht’s weight, one hand clapped over his mouth while the other clung at the fabric of Licht’s shoulder. 

 

Hiro’s face fell as Hyde hacked and wheezed, reaching out to gently squeeze Licht’s other shoulder. “Get him home,” she urged gently, “and  _ take care of him.”  _

 

“Of course,” he said instantly, earnestly, and she smiled softly at him. 

 

“I know you will,” she said, before nodding behind them to another door. “Go out that way; alleyway’s the shortest way to the main road.” With that, she patted his arm and slipped back out into the main building, barking a _C_ _ alm down, I’m right here!  _ when the sound of the desk bell chimed obnoxiously for her attention. 

 

Licht shifted his attention back to Hyde, who was all but boneless against Licht and whimpering as fresh blood dripped viscously down his chin. “Can you walk?” Licht murmured, and Hyde nodded. 

 

“Yeah, I’m- I’m okay,” he muttered, and slowly pushed off of Licht. 

 

_ No don’t, let me hold you, you’re going to hurt yourself-  _

 

“I said I’m  _ okay,  _ Lich-tan,” Hyde reaffirmed, and Licht blinked. 

 

_ Did I-?  _

 

“Loud as day, angel,” Hyde said cheekily, and Licht scowled through his mortification, “and while I appreciate the sentiment, I don’t think you want me bleeding all over your shirt.” 

 

It took Licht a full second to parse the words before he forced out a _Damn_ _straight_ in an effort to keep his face blank. _(What the fuck just happened?)_

 

“‘Sides, it’d be a bit weird for a human to be wandering around with a hedgehog in their arms,” Hyde continued, wiping his fingers on his pants. 

 

Licht squinted. “And since when do  _ you _ give a damn about what other people think?” 

 

Hyde only offered a loaded smile in reply, silent in words but screaming in a meaning Licht couldn’t understand, distant and dark and  _ hurt.  _

 

“Suit yourself, then,” Licht quipped, and stepped around him to press the push bar of the exit. “Let’s go.” 

The smile warmed into something more familiar as he slunk after Licht like a faithful familiar as they both slipped into the shadows of the alley. 

 

Now back out into the heat of the summer, Licht had his hands jammed in his pockets and his eyes flicking over his shoulder, where Hyde- for once- kept his distance, several paces behind.  _ That’s weird.  _ “Oi.” 

 

Hyde stopped just as Licht turned on him, scowling. “I thought you were trying to dump my ass off as quickly as you could?” Hyde snarked, and Licht bit out a sigh. 

 

“If I end up losing you because you’re walking  _ ten feet behind me  _ then I’ll just punt you into the sun so you can shrivel up and die,” he retorted, but it was cooler than he intended, and from the look Licht was able to salvage from how the shadow was devouring Hyde’s face, he knew Hyde caught it. 

 

“Oh? Are you telling me that slip of yours from earlier wasn’t just a one-time thing, then?” he crowed, before suddenly shifting until he was right beside Licht, arm to arm and a dark smile on his face. “I can hold your hand for you if you’re  _ that  _ concerned.” 

 

Licht met his eye with a flat glare. “Go fuck yourself.” The words were so flat he couldn’t even convince  _ himself _ he was serious. 

 

A devilish grin start to spread over Hyde’s face before it twisted into a wince, and he abruptly stepped away to smother a cough into his sleeve.  Licht frowned, waiting until the small fit abided, before shaking his head and turning on his heel, continuing; he tried to let his footsteps drown out the concern that nipped at the buds of something heavy that bloomed in his mind. 

 

The rest of the walk was silent spare the sound of their feet on the cobblestone and the hum of summer and humanity seeping through the cracks as people made their way down the sunlit paths, unaware of the angel skulking his way beside them with his sulking demon in tow. 

 

“Y’know, Lich-tan, if you were just gonna ignore me the whole time, I would’ve just come back by myself,” Hyde piped up, the faintest bite of annoyance clipping his words. 

 

“I wouldn’t‘ve let you,” Licht said instantly, but he didn’t look back; a presence was on his shoulders, some unnamed emotion making an Orpheus out of him, too afraid to turn around for fear of what truth he should see there. 

 

Hyde let out a deep breath. “You’re stubborn about the wrong things, angel,” he muttered. As they reached an intersection where light met dark, a sudden wash of alarm settled over Licht, cutting off any retort or defense he may have had as he stopped dead, making Hyde bump into him. “Hey, what the hell are you-?” 

 

“Shut up,” Licht hissed, arm blocking Hyde from moving forward as he strained to listen. 

 

_ “What?”  _ Hyde whispered as he tried to see around Licht. 

 

_ I hear voices,  _ Licht said lowly on the edge of Hyde’s mind, warning and cautious, the sound sparking a match between the bond. 

 

_ So?  _

 

_ They sound familiar…. Like-  _

 

Licht broke off with an audible _S_ _ hit  _ as he placed the voices, and did the first thing his mind told him to do as it realized the danger they could be put in. 

 

“What the fu-?” Hyde started before a hand clapped over his mouth muffled the rest of his words, and Licht quickly yanked him out of the line of sight from the alley on the opposite side of the lit street, pressing Hyde against the wall until they were both hidden in the shadow. 

 

_ “Hey,  _ if I’d  _ known  _ Tsubaki was plannin’ on sending the  _ wonder duo _ out to try and intercept them then I would’ve asked him if I could go too! It would’ve been fun to play with them again; I never did get to toy with that angel,” a bright and effervescent voice complained, neon against the dark of the alley Licht was presently breathing in. 

 

“You know better than that after you failed so magnificently with that Sloth kid,” a voice chided, making the original speaker scoff. 

 

“I’ll have you know that  _ I  _ was the one who so perfectly trapped that little Pride wretch in my magic box so Tsubaki could wring him of his Jinn!” 

 

**_Subclasses._ **

 

_ Just be quiet- breathe in, breathe out, focus on not moving and on what you can touch- you can’t let them know we’re here,  _ was what Licht was trying to tell himself, but was distracted by the warmth of Hyde’s mouth against his palm and the press of another body against his own. While only having a few centimeters on him, Licht was able to look down at Hyde, whose eyes were blown wide as his hands anxiously scrubbed at the brick behind them, splayed like nervous birds. Every point of contact between them was a live wire, all sharp edges and soft curves, and Licht didn’t even realize his heart was racing or he was holding his breath until Hyde gently nudged him through the bond.

 

“You’re too loud, you damn flamingo,” the second voice complained, and Licht’s fingers clenched as he heard how close the voice was. 

 

_ They’re passing us, just a few more seconds- _

 

_ “‘Flamingo’?  _ How  _ rude,  _ Shamrock, how downright  _ slanderous!”  _

 

“God, just shut up before you summon every police officer in the vicinity,” he said, faint just the pair passed the gap of the alley and continued walking down the sunny street unperturbed. 

 

Licht let out a relieved breath and dropped his hand, shutting his eyes, before a whispered _F_ _ uck  _ shuddered out of Hyde’s mouth made Licht’s heart stop cold. He wasn’t able to get a word out before Hyde roughly shoved him off, stumbling back, and a flush of anger flashed through Licht until he saw Hyde was clutching at his chest. 

 

Licht wasn’t able to catch him as Hyde dropped to his knees, trying to draw a breath and failing as he struggled to swallow back the petals, the noise, the hurt, and Licht was baffled-

And  _ hurt.  _

He tried to help Hyde up, but only moved a fraction of an inch before a mental recoil made Licht draw back, the words  _ too close too close  _ on loop as Hyde’s frame shook. 

 

There was no quip, no retort, no backhanded comment Licht could offer as he watched Hyde writhe in an attempt to keep quiet, and an indefinable ache carved a maw into his chest, pulsing to a beat of a tell-tale heart.  _ (For whom? By whom? Of whom?) _

 

So he waited, and he watched, and he ached, all in silence and in guilt until Hyde was collapsed on his side, tugging a revolting clump of rotting petals and flowers from his throat as he gasped and gagged for relief that wouldn’t come. When the fit was done and his energy was spent, Hyde messily shifted into a pathetic ball of spines as he curled in miserably on himself, shivering. 

 

Licht silently scooped him up and tucked him into the darkness of his hoodie pocket, carrying them both home in damning silence; if his fingers swept gently through Hyde’s spines, he pretended not to notice he was doing it. 

 

_ I’m sorry, Lich-tan, I’m sorry,  _ Hyde whispered over and over again, the color of a cerulean ritardando scraping ocean-deep notes into Licht’s mind as guilt and frustration trickled through Licht; his fingers itched for a pencil in time to his heartbeat that thudded in the wound of his shoulder.  

 

But writing would do him no good when the pain that lingered on the edge of his mind was refusing to cede, refusing to end, refusing him conclusion. 

 

_ Stupid Hyde.  _

 

_ I know.  _


	9. Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get better, rising into warmth, before getting worse   
> and worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! It's time for a rapid upload- I'm finished! So keep an eye out, since I'll be posting the rest today!!   
> Thank you for your patience!! :D

The return to the hot springs went just as Licht expected: 

 

Hyde attempted to shuffle out of Licht’s pocket and showily swap to human form but ended up tangled in his own scarf before falling flat on his ass;

Mahiru barked both a warning as well as concern before abruptly standing up;

Kuro gave them both a flat look, dry and telling;

Meanwhile, Licht wanted to leave _ immediately.  _

 

“Get off the floor, shitty rat, before I step on you,” Licht drawled, just as Hyde groaned.

 

“You would  _ never,  _ especially when your true colors were so vibrant today and you-  _ ow!”  _

 

Mahiru stopped dead from where he’d started rushing over when Licht kicked Hyde in the thigh, though it was much softer than he’d like to admit. “Don’t be fooled; I had to carry him home,” Licht announced, punctuated by a single weak cough before Hyde let out a frustrated noise and starfished on the floor. 

 

“Hyde, if you lie on the floor you’re not going to be able to breathe properly,” Mahiru chastised, raising an eyebrow when Hyde petulantly crossed his arms, not moving. 

 

“I can’t breathe either way, so why move off this  _ deliciously _ cold floor?” 

 

“You’re just making yourself perfectly walkable material,” Licht deadpanned, the provocation making Hyde lurch up with a childish gasp. 

 

“As if I’d be anything less than thankful to be under those heavenly boots of yours,” he retorted, tongue bright in cherry innuendo enough to match the flush at the back of Licht’s neck as his eyes widened. 

 

“Fucking-  _ die,  _ you demon!” he yelled, aiming to knee Hyde in the head and stumbling when Hyde slid backward out of the way just in time. “You can choke to death for all I care, you fuck!” 

 

“Ooh, you hear that? I’ve got him  _ really  _ riled up this time,” Hyde cooed, and Licht whipped around practically snarling; if he was the one with fangs, they’d be on full display sharper than any piano keys he could wield. 

 

“Licht-san, that’s  _ enough,”  _ Mahiru cut off, catching Licht by the back of the arm long enough to pull him back and release him before he could turn on him. “You too, Hyde.” 

 

Hyde pouted magnificently, dramatic and only faintly sincere, but Licht bristled as that unfamiliar guilt flickered through him again. “Sorry,” he muttered, faintly audible, and Mahiru blinked in surprise. 

 

_ Your soft side’s showing again, angel,  _ Hyde teased, and Licht glared at him. 

 

“You’re frustrated, is all,” Mahiru said bluntly, “and I think you two might need a  _ little  _ space from each other.” 

 

Licht squinted, trying to unveil what double meaning he’d laced into his words, instead deciding to just scoff and ignore it. “Yeah, because that worked so well already,” he said, kicking a foot lazily toward Hyde in a weak gesture. Hyde shrugged but said nothing. 

 

“Well, you told me earlier that Kranz wanted to meet you for dinner,” Mahiru started, letting the rest trail off as Hyde abruptly made a noise that was a cross between a cough and a shriek, clapping a hand to his chest in surprise yet otherwise remained entirely undisturbed. (Licht, on the other hand, felt his pulse jump.) 

 

“It’s ten until seven, so that’s probably soon,” Kuro called helpfully, and Licht internally swore. If there was one thing Kranz prided himself on other than his wardrobe, it was incessant knack for punctuality. 

 

As if on cue, Licht felt the phone in his back pocket buzz as it chimed a familiar ringtone, and he audibly swore this time, dryly enough to make Hyde snort. “Cinderella’s gonna be late for the ball,” Hyde called as Licht made his way around the couch to slide the door of the bedroom door open, knowing Kranz would skin him if he wore anything less than a dress shirt. Licht flipped Hyde off without looking back before shutting the door, ignoring how the genuine laughter Hyde erupted into made his insides turn to static. 

 

_ Focus, Licht; focus.  _

 

***

 

A jumbled rush and a taxi ride later, and Licht was seated in front of a rather exuberant Kranz, angrily futzing with his hair as Kranz rambled on and on about something Licht couldn’t be bothered to listen to. His blood was boiling and something buzzed behind his ribs, appetite gone as if his stomach was filled with cotton. 

 

_ I can’t focus.  _

 

“Hey, are you okay? You haven’t been paying attention at all since you got here,” Kranz suddenly interrupted, peering at him worriedly. 

 

Licht’s head snapped up and he dropped the hand that had been tugging unconsciously at his white strand with a huff, irritated at himself. “Just tired; nothing an angel can’t handle.” 

 

Kranz raised an eyebrow, and Licht stared back stubbornly. Kranz sighed, shifting until he was leaning into his palm, elbow propped on the table. His braid slipped forward over his shoulder, and he unconsciously swatted it back; Licht watched the entire movement as if it was in slow motion, exhaustion making him hyper-focused.  “How’s the piece coming along, then, since you don’t want to listen to me talk about myself?” Kranz asked, only a touch sarcastic. “Will you have a small preview of it for the end of this month?” 

 

Licht instantly shook his head. “No, hell no.” Immediate and sharp-  _ There’s nothing to show but a muddled story that couldn’t possibly be called art.  _

 

_ (Hm,  _ **_I’d_ ** _ like to differ. _

 

_ Shut up, I’m busy.)  _

 

Kranz hummed, unsurprised but still curious. “Have you been able to write anything more?” 

 

Licht made a bitter noise. “Yeah, but none of it makes sense,” he explained, fingers moving to pluck at his pants. “It’s too disconnected.” 

 

“Can you not focus?” 

 

Licht didn’t answer at first, slipping back into his head, something numbing but pleasant tickling the back of his mind.  _ Yes- no- both. It’s too confusing, and everything’s so loud, and I just-  _ “I guess.” 

 

“I’ve never heard you so uncertain before, Licht,” Kranz commented, bright eyes glittering in the low light of the decorative lamp above them. “Are you sure everything is okay?” 

 

“It’s  _ fine,”  _ Licht snapped, discomfort sliding up his spine, and all he wanted was to get out of that tiny restaurant bubbling with small talk and blips of light against the darkness of the room, wanted to get out of his dress shirt, wanted to get  _ out  _ of this line of inquiry.  _ (I’ve never felt this anxious before- what’s wrong with me?)  _

 

Kranz blinked, searching Licht’s face, and Licht cringed. He shifted off of the table to stare at Licht, and Licht could see something springing to the front of his tongue, and he knew fully well he didn’t want to hear them. “Is it Hyde?” he asked, the words like a gunshot. “Did he do something?” 

 

“No.” A lie, and a bad one at that; it was rushed and sloppy, out-of-character and neon. Licht winced. 

 

Kranz let out a low breath. “Considering you  _ never _ cover for him, something must’ve happened,” he started slowly, “so  _ tell me.”  _

 

“It’s nothing,” Licht replied, annoyance dripping from every syllable, stygian silver against the lowlight surrounding them. “He’s just an idiot.” 

 

“Does it have something to do with that?” Kranz asked, gesturing to his shoulder. Confused, Licht looked down to where he pointed, blanching when he saw the edge of the fresh patch he’d slapped over his shoulder peeking out from his collar. 

 

Licht groaned and tugged his shirt over it, scowling when he saw the curious eyebrow Kranz had raised. “I said it was  _ nothing,  _ Kranz.” 

 

“You know I’m just going to keep asking,” Kranz said, and Licht clicked his tongue. 

 

“He’s really just being an idiot,” Licht repeated, but Kranz just pursed his lips, waiting. “He’s just... sick,” Licht eventually muttered, and Kranz’s eyebrows narrowed sharply.  _ Not ‘just’ anything- he’s in agony, but won’t do a damn thing about it.  _

 

“Sick? Can vampires even  _ get  _ sick?” Kranz questioned, genuine with just a touch of disbelief in his voice. 

 

“I had the same thought,” Licht replied, but his tone trailed off, not wanting to finish the truth. 

 

“....But?” 

 

Licht’s fingers tightened into a fist under the table.  _ “But,  _ some things still slip through, I guess.”  _ Stop beating around the bush- it’s not like you can change the truth by just ignoring it.  _

 

“How bad is it?” Kranz pushed, gentle but insistent, trying to slowly push what he knew was bothering Licht out from his frustrated bones. 

 

_ Purple, red, green- a constant ache in his chest, but he wasn’t sure if it was from the heartbreak or the illness, sore and tired and eyes red-rimmed. The taste of blood, the taste of flora, the taste of vomit.  _

 

“It’s killing him,” Licht heard himself say, eyes widening in shock as he processed his own words, crooked in upset syllables.  _ Since when did I start to care? (Don’t lie, you always did.)  _

 

“Licht?” 

 

Licht just groaned, scrubbing his hands over his face as if trying to erase tears that he hadn’t shed, skin crawling and itchy, seconds away from a truth he hadn’t known was lurking just under the surface. “It’s  _ Teufelblume,”  _ he mumbled, not moving his hands as his head pounded. 

 

He heard Kranz shift in his seat. “How far has it gotten?” Kranz asked, and something in his tone made Licht drop his hands to scowl at him, an irrational bite of anger flaring in his chest. 

 

“You don’t sound surprised,” Licht said lowly, “did he tell you?”  _ Why the hell am I so angry? _

 

Kranz shook his head. “I had my concerns, but he told me to forget about it.” 

 

Licht gnawed on his lip, fingers now twisting at the napkin sitting mussed in his lap. “And you didn’t think to  _ tell _ me?” 

 

Kranz gave him a cautious look, watching and open. “He asked me not to,” he explained before he crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s not as if you ever seemed to care before, though.” The last part Licht knew was a jab, half of a lie; Kranz had seen him squeeze Hyde- nothing more than a weak ball of spines at that moment- against his chest, shaking from exertion yet refusing to let anyone near either of them, had seen when Licht refused to leave the room while Hyde slowly and torturously healed from his wounds, had stayed awake in the dead of the night when his own nightmares kept him up, making sure that Hyde was able to sleep so he could  _ heal-  _

 

_ Wait. _

(His heart fluttered in a blood-red sixteenth note.) 

 

“You know who it is, then?” Kranz nodded, but he was wary, watching as Licht’s mind started to click through the information. Licht scoffed. “I suppose he told you, didn’t he?” 

 

Kranz flattened his lips into a thin line. “No, actually, but it wasn’t as if he needed to; it was fairly obvious.” 

 

For some reason, that made a spark of venom burn through Licht, and his fingers moved to pick at his cuticles. “Of course,” he hissed, low and to himself, jealous and  _ done.  _

 

“Licht, he  _ did  _ tell you who it was, right?” Kranz asked slowly, confused, eyes widening when Licht’s own swung viciously toward him. 

 

“Who the hell  _ else  _ would it be?” Licht snarled, anger misplaced and sideways, deep-seated from a source he never knew was collecting somewhere in the furthest reaches of his bones. 

 

(Kranz held back a sigh and a pang of empathy.  _ No, he doesn’t know.)  _

 

“Why are you so upset, then?” Kranz tried, aiming for Devil’s advocate, wincing as he saw the instant flash of rage in Licht’s eyes. 

 

“What happened  _ happened,  _ and if he lets his past swallow him up and ignores what’s around him  _ right now  _ then he’s just going to end up as an utter waste of my time,” Licht said sharply, a well bursting in his chest as it started to spill out, bloodier than any petals that fell from Hyde’s mouth. “He won’t let me help but won’t help himself either, and it’s fucking  _ childish.”  _

 

“Licht-” 

 

“It’s like he’s completely oblivious to the fact that there are people who  _ try  _ to give a damn! But the more he pushes them away, the sicker he gets until it affects  _ me!”  _ His hands were raking through his hair now, hard enough to sting. 

 

_ “Licht,  _ I think  _ you  _ need to take a step back and try to see from  _ his _ angle,” Kranz interrupted, eyes sharp on the patrons nearby who were whispering and staring as Licht melted down. “There’s something you might find you didn’t realize, and that might help you understand  _ why  _ he’s acting the way he is.” Kranz waited as Licht settled his face into his hands. “Do you hear me?” 

 

Licht huffed, petulant, mind whirling, but he nodded, albeit slowly. 

 

Kranz released a relieved breath; it was further than he thought he was going to get.  _ This must really upset him…. I’ve never seen him so shaken.  _ “Are you okay?” 

 

“Of course I am, I’m a fucking angel,” came the immediate reply from behind Licht’s hands, still in the same cocky tone as it always was, but this time it sounded like an excuse. 

 

“Yes, you are,” Kranz laughed breezily, grinning when Licht glared at him through his fingers. “Even so, you’ve got no other options if you want to get onto a demon’s level.” 

 

Licht wrinkled his nose, and Kranz laughed louder. 

 

The moment was interrupted when Licht felt a buzz in his pocket, making his knit his eyebrows before fishing out his phone. Another message chimed in as he turned on the screen, making it three messages from  _ Shirota Mahiru  _ blinking on his screen. 

 

**Shirota Mahiru [8:13]**

_ your fucking servamp is trying to drink himself to death and I’m ten seconds away from killing him  _

**Shirota Mahiru [8:13]**

_ he’s apparently deciding whether he wants to eat the floor or vomit his guts out  _

**Shirota Mahiru [8:14]**

_ Oh my god I’m SO sorry Kuro took my phone  _

 

Licht slowly raised an eyebrow. Two more messages popped up in quick succession. 

 

**Shirota Mahiru [8:14]**

_ But Hyde really is horrendously drunk and he’s not listening to anyone  _

**Shirota Mahiru [8:14]**

_ One of our neighbors already complained but he literally just parked his ass at the table and has yet to stop drinking  _

 

“For fuck’s sake,” Licht breathed, and he squeezed his phone. The pleasant numbing feeling at the back of his mind and his throat suddenly made sense now, and he groaned. 

 

“What happened?” Kranz asked, but Licht waved him off, tapping out a reply.

 

**Me [8:14]**

_ How the hell did he even manage to get his hands on anything even remotely alcoholic?  _

 

**Shirota Mahiru [8:15]**

_ He seduced one of the attendants to bring him an ungodly amount of sake apparently from what Tetsu explained _

 

**Me [8:15]**

_ You’re fucking kidding me  _

**Me [8:15]**

_ He couldn’t behave himself for two hours _

 

**Shirota Mahiru [8:15]**

_ I went out with Kuro and when I came back he was already making a ruckus  _

  
  


**Me [8:16]**

_ I’m going to murder him  _

**Me [8:16]**

**_I swear to god_ **

 

**Shirota Mahiru [8:16]**

_ Actually  _

**Shirota Mahiru [8:16]**

_ I think talking to him might help  _

 

**Me [8:16]**

_ Then… go talk to him? _

 

**Shirota Mahiru [8:16]**

_ Licht-san… _

**Shirota Mahiru [8:16]**

_ He’s asking for  _ **_you_ ** _.  _

 

_ Oh. _

For some reason, his bluntness spurred a pull of simultaneous guilt as well as embarrassment in Licht’s stomach. 

 

“What’s going on?” Kranz pushed, and Licht’s eyes flickered up from from his screen to Kranz’s face, an expression of practiced professionalism watching Licht. 

 

Licht chewed through a response for a few palpable seconds before sliding his phone back into his pocket and moving his napkin off of his lap. “I need to go,” he eventually settled on, and Kranz’s eyebrows knit. 

 

“Is everything okay?” 

 

Not  _ what happened,  _ not  _ what did Hyde do-  _ it made Licht uneasy. 

 

“If don’t head back, no, because we’re about to be kicked out,” Licht said, moving to stand before Kranz cautiously reached out to grab his wrist, just enough to stop him before releasing him, knowing lingering fingers would only upset Licht further. 

 

“Don’t push yourself,” Kranz said, continuing when Licht angrily knit his eyebrows at him. “Just talk to him, okay? And  _ take care  _ of him too.” 

 

Licht blinked, processing the words, before huffing and instinctively reaching to hide his fidgety hands in a front pocket that wasn’t there, eventually jamming his hands into the pockets of one of the cleaner pairs of jeans he could find. He wanted to say something,  _ wanted  _ to bite back with a  _ why should I bother, he can take care of himself; he’s  _ **_fine,_ ** but a part of his mind that was slowly warming up into sleepy awareness tugged at his aching heartstrings in a ceaseless rhythm of four words over and over again: 

 

_ But he ISN’T fine.  _

 

“Whatever,” Licht said instead, pushing himself out of his seat and winding his way out of the restaurant into the darkening summer evening, shoving his hair out of his face with jittery fingers as he tapped out the number for a taxi. 

 

(The food Licht had ordered sat across from Kranz, barely touched; Kranz shut his eyes with a deep sigh.) 

 

***

 

“Excuse me, sir, but you’re in suite 4A, yes?” A voice said from behind Licht, interrupting him as he plodded through the hallway. 

 

Turning, he was met with a young woman with a shock of honey-gold hair pulled into a high ponytail, emphasizing the blue and white of her uniform. He paused, suspicion in the line of his shoulders. “Why?” 

 

She smiled faintly, a small expression that reminded Licht of someone familiar, though he didn’t bother to put a finger on it. “Your friend’s been making quite a scene, recently,” she said, and he bit his lip to keep from saying something unsavory; he’d save that for later. 

 

“So I’ve been told,” he said flatly, and she laughed lightly. “He didn’t make too much of a mess, did he? I’ll kill him otherwise.” 

 

Something knowing crossed her face, and she shifted the sleeve of her kimono over the bottom half of her face for a second, stifling something he didn’t catch. “I’d recommend you remove any alcohol from the premises before the Takedas next door try and remove  _ him,”  _ she said pleasantly. “They’ve already complained once, but they seem rather… tetchy.” 

 

She didn’t wait for a response before bowing with a light  _ please excuse me  _ and walking past him, leaving him both baffled as well as irritated- 

 

Opening the door to the suite only made the latter overpower any other emotion he could’ve had. 

 

_ “Lich- _ tan!” 

 

“Jesus  _ fuck.”  _

 

Hyde was messily sprawled over the table, stretching over the edge of the table flex his fingers before dropping his hands with a dull thud. Multiple bottles of sake littered the tabletop amidst the other garbage that had amassed: snack wrappers and other foodstuffs, various bits of his jewelry, his glasses, and a startling amount of his clothes. 

 

“Who the hell let him  _ strip?”  _

 

“I tried my best to stop him, but he just ran around the table as he unbuttoned- uh,  _ unpinned?- _ his shirt,” Mahiru called from where he was loitering at the edge of the table with a trash bag in his hand. 

 

Hyde’s eyes were glassy but still piercing, unguarded without his glasses and ridiculously gleeful as they locked onto Licht. He was shirtless, but still had his scarf wrapped uncoordinatedly around his throat, his skin flushed-pale starting from his cheeks and spreading to his chest. Now that Licht was in the same room, he could feel the buzz of the alcohol warming the bond and tugging sloppily at Licht, but there was something else just behind it that was just as debilitating, glittering for a single second in sharp sobriety. 

 

_ He’s not completely drunk?  _

 

_ “Please  _ just get him out, or hug him, or  _ kick  _ him,” Kuro called from the couch where he was curled in cat form on the cushions just beside a rather bitter Misono with a large pair of headphones over his ears. “He’s been whining for you for the past hour and a half and I’m trying to  _ sleep.”  _

 

“Are you really so lazy that you couldn’t throw your own brother’s ass in the room and lock the door?” Licht drawled, and Kuro cracked open a feline eye to stare flatly at him. 

 

“Give it ten seconds and you’ll see why,” he said cryptically, before shuffling further into the back of the cushions and disappearing out of Licht’s sight spare the flick of his tufted tail. 

 

A sudden surge of warmth an a spike of something heavy in Licht’s chest made him whip his head over toward Hyde, eyes widening as a gasp caught in his throat from the sudden torrent of sticky emotion soaking his mind.  _ “Angel-chan,  _ you came back for me!” Hyde called, a hiccup catching in his chest making his snicker. 

 

Licht scrunched his nose. “You made me leave early because your fucking spineless ass decided to  _ self-medicate,”  _ he bit out, watching Hyde pout dramatically, entirely unhurt. 

 

“If you hadn’t left such a kind gift for me then maybe-!” he paused as another hiccup made him pause, holding up an index finger in punctuation-  _ “maybe  _ I wouldn’t be  _ in  _ this state!” 

 

“The hell do you mean?” Licht demanded, and Hyde giggled, the childish noise warped by the lascivious grin melting dangerously over his face and burning its way through Licht’s chest. 

 

“Ask the kid; he nabbed it from me after I tried throwin’ it at my rude-ass brother for interrupting my alone time,” Hyde replied, gesturing vaguely toward Mahiru before dropping his face heavily enough onto the table to make both it as well as Licht’s head rattle. 

 

“What’s he talking about?” Licht whispered toward Mahiru, who sighed deeply before plunging his arm into the trash bag, sifting for something before yanking out a small bottle. 

 

“It’s this,” he said, squinting at the label, “uh…. Everclear?” 

 

_ ‘Small but mighty; while it’s no cure for Hanahaki, it’ll at least take some of the sting away.’ _

 

_ Oh- shit.  _

 

_ “That’s  _ what he was suckin’ down when we came in?” Kuro called, suddenly invested in the conversation again. “Jesus, that shit’ll fuck you sideways.” 

 

Mahiru wrinkled his nose before dropping the bottle in the bag. “Thank you for the image, Kuro,” he said sarcastically. “And do I even want to know how you know that?” 

 

“Exactly how you’d expect,” Kuro replied, and Mahiru rolled his eyes. Licht faintly though he heard him mutter a  _ stupid cat  _ under his breath, but he wasn’t sure. 

 

A sudden pull behind Licht’s eyes made him look back over to Hyde, heart jumping when he saw that Hyde was leaning heavily into his palm and watching Licht with a hungry look in his eyes, focused and predatory-  _ sober.  _ “Didn’t you miss me?” he asked, weighted and rigged in a game Licht knew he was bound to lose. 

 

Licht stared flatly at him, unamused; Hyde’s grin only spread like taffy over his face.

 

“Alright, shithead, come here,” Licht announced, marching over to him and hooking his fingers into Hyde’s scarf and pulling him to his feet. 

 

“Wait-  _ Licht-san,  _ you can’t just-” 

 

“He’s not even fully drunk,” Licht cut off, and his suspicion was confirmed when he watched as Hyde’s eyes widened, heat radiating off of his bare skin, flushed and sweaty.  _ “You have a fever,”  _ he accused, in quiet, loaded German just for Hyde to hear.  _ “You’re fucking delirious.”  _

 

Hyde stared at him for a few palpable seconds before his face split into a smile.  _ “Guess that’s what happens when a demon’s been too close to a beautiful angel,”  _ he hummed, half slurred and half purred. 

 

Licht clicked his tongue and yanked him toward the door to the hallway, one hand still tightly fisted in Hyde’s scarf as Hyde tripped after him, ignoring the choked-off noises of complaint. “Where are you  _ going?”  _ Mahiru called, slipping on the tile as he tried to follow them. 

 

“To  _ talk,”  _ Licht spit before shoving Hyde out of the door and sliding it shut behind him. 

 

Watching Hyde splutter and cough as he tried to gain his balance, Licht ignored his insulted look as he tried to gain some semblance of order in what little clothes he wore.  _ (Of course his pants are fucking unbuttoned.)  _ “You’re more sick than anything right now, aren’t you?” Licht asked, arms crossing over his chest as he leaned back into the wall; it wasn’t a question. “There’s no one but me here now, so you can cut the drunk act.” 

 

Hyde lowered his eyes, the hand that had been mussing his hair dropping slowly to his side. “Lich-tan-” 

 

“Look, I can  _ feel  _ how bad it is, okay?” Licht started, hands already shifting to start fluttering over each other. “But making others miserable just because  _ you _ fucking feel like shit is just  _ annoying.”  _

 

“And by _ others  _ you mean yourself, don’t you?” came Hyde’s response, low and measured, the sappy saccharine words from earlier replaced with something still a touch slurred but not from alcohol. 

 

Licht grit his teeth. “It’s irritating being in the head of someone who’s intent on eating themselves alive from the inside out,” he answered, annoyance bubbling thickly in the back of his mind. “I made a contract with a  _ vampire,  _ not a  _ brat.”  _

 

Hyde laughed bitterly, a hand clutching at his head as he staggered just slightly. “A brat, huh?” 

 

Licht worked his jaw. “If you refuse to just face your own fucking issues and  _ deal with it  _ then I have no use for you,” he started, the frustration long-stewing behind his breastbone coloring his words an ugly shade of rotting purple. “You’re being  _ childish.”  _

 

Hyde didn’t say anything, but his mind was another matter: loud and  _ vibrant,  _ it curled up and shrieked like Icarus-wing ocean waves cut short of their journey to the sky by the sharp and unforgiving jut of the cliffside of shattered ribs. It was words that wanted to be said but were refused, something almost hungry gnawing at the underside of a bitten tongue, and was glass in the throat holding the voice hostage. His hands were pressed over his face, and Licht could see his chest shuddering. 

 

Unbidden to him, Licht’s eyes skipped over Hyde’s body, cataloguing the wounds still struggling to heal; his chest was no longer bound, but strips of patches curled around one side of his chest with the white of them clashing horribly against the yellow-green of the bruises seeping out of the sides. The flush of fever and inebriation made the scars over his chest stand out even more, rising and falling in time to his whirlpool thoughts. Something sick pulled at Licht’s ribs, but it was overruled by a flush of anger at Hyde’s continuing silence. 

 

“Oi, are you even  _ listening  _ to me, you idiot?” Licht hissed, stepping forward until he was in Hyde’s space, electricity crackling down his spine when he received no discernible reaction aside from Hyde barely backing further away. “Get your head out of your ass and  _ talk to me  _ for once in your life!” For some reason, he couldn’t add the latent threat of  _ or I’ll just break it all off  _ after it, something making the words choke off. 

 

“Stop it,” Hyde muttered, pained and near-whispered, but what made Licht’s eyes widen was the sudden torrent of words spilling messily into Licht’s mind: 

 

_ Get away from me  _

_ Don’t touch me  _

_ Stop stop stop  _

_ It hurts just go away  _

**_Stay away from me-_ **

**_SOMETHING’S WRONG WITH ME_ **

 

Licht reached out to snatch at one of Hyde’s wrist, ignoring how Hyde’s breath jumped. His skin was red-hot against Licht’s fingers, pulse rocketing and unsteady. “I’m not leaving until you  _ tell me  _ what’s wrong, you moron,” he hissed, focusing on whatever was spiralling just behind his eyes, a warning flare, a spring-trap seconds from being activated- 

_ I’m not leaving you, so FACE ME.  _

 

It was then that something snapped, like a firing pin striking, and Licht found himself shoved  _ hard  _ into the opposite wall. Coughing, Licht cracked an eye open to throw a  _ What the fuck are you doing?  _ toward Hyde, only to freeze utterly when he saw Hyde’s eyes staring him down: 

 

Predatory, hungry, monstrous- 

_ Unfamiliar.  _

Blood-red and glittering, and dangerously _ sober. _

 

Licht wanted to say his name, call for him, cautious and alarm bells ringing, but there was nothing of  _ Hyde  _ left in his face, as blank and broken as it was. “Hy-?” he tried anyway, but was cut off when a body was bracing him back to the wall in an instant, far faster than any human could’ve dodged. One of Licht’s hands was painfully pressed against the wall as Hyde’s fingers clamped over Licht’s face, slamming his head back into wood. The fingers around his wrist squeezed brutally against the fine bones, and Licht bit back the urge to cry out as the touch burned and bruised. A leg between his own locked them in place, and he wasn’t able to move; he was trapped, trapped utterly, and the caged bird of his heart fluttered in tandem as every instinct labeled fight or flight was burnt down to  _ fear.  _

 

_ What’s going on, what’s happening, what the hell is he-?  _

 

Licht’s eyes could only widen from behind the slits of Hyde’s fingers as he saw a flash of bone-white fangs open and go for the mark, an ivory-carved flash of an assassin’s blade straight to his throat. 

 

_ Hyde, listen to me, stop, STOP, you’re going to-  _

 

“Hyde,  _ no!”  _

 

Licht only faintly registered it was Mahiru’s voice as he felt someone yank Hyde off of him, arms locked around his chest, another body guarding Licht with an arm thrown in front of him as Hyde snarled and thrashed against his captor. “Lawless,  _ stop,  _ and look at me,” Kuro commanded, his voice as much of a shield as his back was, staring down his brother while Mahiru struggled to keep Hyde in place, hold unyielding. “Don’t let that  _ thing  _ in your head win- if you kill him, what will that get you?” 

 

(Licht was in shock, a state he  _ never  _ wanted to be in again as his trembling fingers pressed hesitantly into the wall, his injured wrist held to his chest as he struggled to catch his breath. Eyes wide, mind wide, heart running a mile a minute in a cascade of chromatics, shrieking and crooked in his ears.) 

 

“You’re  _ sick,”  _ Mahiru tried, “and you need to calm down, or you’re going to hurt yourself.” Licht could heard the silent  _ you’ve already hurt someone else  _ hidden just a half-beat behind his words. 

 

The static began to clear from Licht’s mind, calming back into blues and the faint half-gasped oranges, and Licht watched as Hyde sagged against Mahiru’s arms. His breath was unsteady, jerky and rasping, and his eyes dulled back into the half-drunken stupor from before. Carefully, Licht reached out, tentative, resisting the urge to flinch lest he shatter the stained-glass mind that latched onto him desperately.  _ Can you hear me?  _

 

Hyde’s eyes zeroed in on Licht, cataloguing, focusing, and a sudden sickly bloom of shame in ink-black lily petals dripped into Licht’s chest; it was the most damning and sincere  _ yes _ he’d ever heard in his life, the lowest note of a piano struck sharply in his head as it reverberated. 

 

Then, Hyde was shuddering, breaking apart against Mahiru’s now-slack grip before he started to cough weakly. Licht was only able to catch the faintest flash of diamond tears before Hyde wormed his way out of Mahiru’s hold in hedgehog form, slipping out of the hallway and disappearing back into the room. 

 

_ He’s unraveling.  _

 

“I suppose that’s one way of putting it,” Kuro muttered-  _ had I said that aloud?- _ stepping aside and shoving his hands back into his pockets, slouching once again in a way that reminded Licht of a cat smoothing its fur back down. “I wouldn’t bother with him now; let him sleep it off for a bit.” 

 

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Licht replied, going for cold and detached and only hearing rattled and a tad breathless; he swore to himself. 

 

Mahiru caught it, eyes flickering over to him. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?” Mahiru’s face was open and warm, rather unassuming for someone who had been holding back a vampire on a mental break.

 

Licht tucked his hand away into his pocket away from view. “Of course not.” 

 

Mahiru gave him a level look. Licht stared back. 

 

“Licht-san-” 

 

“I’ll be back,” Licht cut off, forcing his way past Mahiru, eager to avoid their searching glances and pity he didn’t  _ need.  _

 

His whirling mind swallowed whatever they may have called toward him, exiting the hall sharply and making his way toward the first place his mind supplied- 

 

The gardens, away from everyone else. 

 

***

 

“Do you think he’s okay?” 

 

“No, in all honesty. I mean, he really shouldn’t, after having his own Servamp sicced on him like that.” 

 

“Licht-san’s been a bit out of it for a few days… I just hope that he doesn’t self-destruct.” 

 

“What, that violent mistake of an angel? If anyone self-destructs, it’ll be Lawless before anything else.” 

 

“I think he already reached that stage, Kuro.” 

 

_ Heavy silence, uncomfortable and realizing. _

 

“...Damn, these idiots.” 

 

“Let’s just let them be.” 


	10. Masquerade/Why So Silent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Why so silent, good Messieurs?/Did you think that I had left you for good?
> 
> ....
> 
> Remember there are worse things than a shattered chandelier!"

Everything hurt- 

 

His head, his chest, his wrist,  _ everything,  _ pain shaking through every heavy footstep and up his spine as Licht stormed his way to where he vaguely remembered the gardens were, fingers clenching and unclenching by his sides; the pain made his right wrist sting, and he slid it into his pocket with a bitter huff. 

 

_ Idiot, idiot, idiot,  _ he chanted on loop, teeth grinding so harshly against each other that his jaw ached.  _ One step forward, two steps back- why should I even bother with him? He’s just letting himself decay at this point and it’s his own damn fault.  _

(His nerves were singing with residual adrenaline, the shock of having his face caged and slammed violently into a wall still making him twitch- not that he’d ever admit that.) 

 

It wasn’t long before he found himself staring aimlessly at his feet now buried in grass, so lost in his head for that one moment that he’d unintentionally let himself wander unconsciously into the gardens purely on autopilot. He blew out a sharp breath, tilting his head back to stare at the sky above him, staring bitterly at the shifting clouds before numbly dropping to the ground. He folded his legs under him, hands clamped around his ankles before hissing as the action drew a bolt of pain from his wrist. 

 

Wrenching it away, he sharply scrutinized it, heart beating crookedly when he saw the damage Hyde’s fingers had left in their wake: bruises, so deep that color already bloomed in the shape of fingers, paired with crescents of nail marks faintly oozing with blood in the soft skin of his inner wrist. 

 

He was lucky that it wasn’t  _ broken,  _ tendons torn out from a single burst of misplaced rage, leaving Licht no better than a de-winged angel. 

 

The realization brought a flush of a nasty emotional cocktail back to the forefront of his mind, a blurry mix of rage, fear, pain, and  _ grief,  _ all so visceral that Licht could only curl his fingers in on themselves and bow his head in an attempt to keep his breathing even.  _ Just a fraction more and he could’ve ruined me- he wouldn’t-  _ **_stop that,_ ** _ Licht-  _

He let out a frustratedly strangled yell as he brought one hand to his chest while the other tore through his hair, eyes stinging as he shut them against the light of the day until the scent of the earth around him was blurred with the bitter tears he forced back. 

 

(For that one moment, Licht was unhinged, every thought and uncontrolled emotion spilling onto Hyde, burying the hedgehog in a mountain of heavy, heavy pain that made him dig further into the corner he’d shoved himself into, trying to make it all  _ stop.)  _

 

_ \----- _

 

Licht wasn’t sure how long he stayed there in those gardens, flat on his back with only the sound of the wind and the bubbling pond beside him warm in his ears. He’d long closed his eyes against the fading light, counting notes upon notes against the red of his eyelids. He chased the pulse of his wrist away by lifting both hands above him, fingers carefully- hesitantly- tapping to the sound of the patchwork music he’d been stewing in for nearly a month, scrunching his nose when something didn’t flow just  _ right  _ and he restarted. 

 

He sorted through colors and crescendos at the same time as the mess of stagnating feelings sticky in his chest, steadying his shaking breath as he sifted through the crooked pieces he had- 

 

The further he pushed himself, pushed his heart away, he felt his fingers stretch for an impossible chord, bridging a gap in bright gold, and the realization struck him breathless. 

 

Again and again and again, he kept unlocking more and more of the piece he wanted to play, seeing it stitch together into a story  _ (angel wings and demon fangs and blood on earth on sky on lips pressed to fingers)  _ until he reached the end, cresting toward the top in search of an ending- 

 

_ He’s hiding from me for a reason  _

 

_ You know why  _

 

**_You know why_ **

 

_ You aren’t this stupid, it should be so obvious-  _

 

-until the last of the notes he sought stuttered out of time,  _ failing,  _ and he frustratedly blew out a breath as the daydream faded once again.  _ “Dammit,”  _ his hissed, dropping his leadened arms onto his face as he chewed at his lip. 

 

_ (‘Who is your demon?’ Well, that’s obvious, isn’t it?)  _

 

It was the closest he’d gotten to a conclusion, but there was still that missing piece, niggling at the back of his mind,  _ laughing  _ at him in time to the miserable feeling that was boiling in his chest. This time, Licht knew it was shared, and he carefully nudged at the bond just to peek at Hyde. 

 

Silence. 

Purple-gray, rolling silence, a pathetic swath of heavy depression wrapped around his aching shoulders. 

 

Licht’s chest twinged, and he shifted his arm off of his face to squint at the sky above him, startled when he saw the faint beginnings of stars peeping through the slowly-darkening clouds. He sighed, contemplating, before he carefully wedged the bond further open, reaching out-  _ Can you hear me?  _

 

A beat of silence, but then a faint amber hum of recognition rattled through, tired and  _ drained  _ as it reverberated between them. 

 

Licht frowned, sitting up with a groan as his neck complained before he rubbed at his chest. It was the same level of exhaustion he remembered from when Hyde slowly recovered from his tag shattering, so bone-deep that Licht knew he wasn’t getting any kind of verbal reply from him. 

(Considering what happened the last time he pressed, he decided not to try again.) 

 

Instead, he carefully forced himself up to his feet, shivering as he registered the cold bite of the wind; he squinted at the sky before shaking his head, swallowing a huff. He tightened his arms around himself as he crept out of the gardens, feet meeting the wood of the hot springs floor as he silently made his way back to their suite. 

 

***

 

He stood in front of the door for a few palpable seconds, sucking in a breath and slipping his injured wrist into his pocket before he quietly slid open the door, stepping inside to hastily shut the door behind him. “Mahiru was looking for you,” a voice said quietly, and Licht looked up to see Lily seated on the couch, back turned to him as he looked back to stare knowingly at Licht. (A single dark eye stark against the pale of the walls, glittering and understanding.) Licht didn’t deign him with a reply, and Lily laughed as he pushed up from his seat. “The Sloth pair’s out right now, and everyone else is in their room,” he added, the implication not lost on Licht. 

 

_ I can feel Hyde from here,  _ Licht thought, the heaviness of both illness and guilt nudging at his back. 

 

“Don’t be too hard on him,” Lily said, drawing Licht’s attention back to him. “He’s hard enough on himself as it is, and something tells me he needs a confidant at the moment more than anything.” 

 

Licht opened his mouth, closed it with a frustrated grunt before sighing. “Idiot,” he muttered, and another bell-like laugh fluttered through the room. 

 

“Go check on him,” Lily nudged, nodding toward their room none-too subtly, and Licht rolled his eyes. 

 

_ ‘Fine’  _ is what he wanted to spit out, annoyed and bratty, but what came out instead was a wisp of a relenting “Okay,” sincere and damning. Lily smiled, pleased, and Licht turned his head away. 

 

“Good night, then,” Lily said, dipping his head in a faint bow before silently making his way across the room no heavier than a wraith, slipping into his own room without barely a whisper of a door. 

 

“Damn vampires,” Licht muttered, before steeling himself, fists tightening in his sweatshirt as he turned on his heel and abruptly stalked toward the door. He cracked it, the dim light of the main room spilling into the room in a slant of gold. Not seeing anything, he knit his eyebrows, stepping into the room in search of Hyde. 

 

“Hyde?” No reply, and Licht huffed. 

 

_ He’s probably buried ass-deep somewhere,  _ he mused, cautiously kneeling onto the edge of Hyde’s futon and lifting the blanket, frowning when he found nothing and moving onto the next one. 

 

The sudden shift of covers made a quiet hiss of discomfort hum at the back of Licht’s mind as he pulled away the blanket of his own futon, and his heart lurched when he saw the pathetic ball of spines tangled in the corner of the futon.  _ “Hyde,” _ Licht tried again, folding his legs under him and tentatively reaching out toward the hedgehog, only to retract his hand when he flinched; Licht blew out a breath. “I’m not going to hurt you, you know,” he chided, sliding his hands back into his pocket as he gnawed at his cheek. 

 

Hyde curled further into himself, a small chirp his only reply. “I-” he blew out a breath- “I meant what I said earlier, by the way,” Licht forced out, thumbing at the inside of his pocket almost bashfully as he processed his train of thought. He shut his eyes and continued. “Just... you can just fucking  _ tell me things  _ for once instead of forcing it all down sometimes; you can’t assume _ everyone  _ wants to push you away, idiot.” 

 

(Another golden bridge of music, popping like champagne bubbles in his chest.) 

 

The words made a gasp of a breath sound in the back of Licht’s mind, half of a sob, and Licht’s fingers twitched.  _ Too close, dammit.  _ “Did you manage to eat anything before drinking yourself stupid?” Licht asked instead, drawing a confused sound from Hyde that made a pair of eyes peer cautiously at him from where it was tucked into a furry stomach. Licht ground his teeth, forcing past the block that was making heat drip down the back of his neck. “I just-” he huffed, exasperated- “you should eat something since you’re sick, just so you don’t feel worse because you’re starving  _ and  _ hungover and be even more obnoxious.” (Licht couldn’t look at Hyde, rubbing at the back of his neck.) 

 

_ You’re cute when you blush, you know,  _ Hyde’s voice finally replied, sleepy and quiet, surprisingly gentle as it hummed through the bond, though there was still the faintest bite of teasing that only exacerbated the subject. 

 

“Shut up,” Licht muttered, but there was less bite to it than he’d like to admit. Hyde chittered a faint laugh and Licht glared at him, now uncurled but still swaddled in the fluff of Licht’s blankets. “Alright, come here, you shit,” he said, reaching out to catch Hyde between his palms before he could squirm away, ignoring his squeak of surprise as he lifted the disgruntled hedgehog to his face. There was a staring match between the two for a minute before Hyde ceded, flattening his spines and nuzzling into the warmth of Licht’s fingers. 

 

Licht was only able to scoff at the affectionate gesture, flustered, but he shoved it away as he cradled Hyde against his chest with one arm as the other pushed himself up from the floor. “I’m surprised you didn’t end up stuck considering how buried you were in the blankets,” he commented, voice low as he crept back out into the main room. “And you were in  _ my  _ bed, of all places,” he added, nose scrunching. 

 

A humourless laugh brushed the back of Licht’s mind.  _ You smell good- I can’t help it, angel; it’s just comforting. _

There was a jab in there somewhere, but it was overrun by how defeated it sounded. 

 

“Don’t be weird,” was Licht’s only eloquent reply as he gently set Hyde down at the table, only barely resisting the urge to jump when the hedgehog he’d previously been holding shifted back into human form, though Hyde had his face buried bitterly into his arms. 

 

Strangely enough, Licht was overcome with the desire to run his fingers through Hyde’s hair, catching himself off guard. 

 

“Did your fever break yet, or do I need to shove you into a cold shower until you cool down?” Licht asked instead, watching as Hyde shrugged. Licht threw up his hands in defeat before reaching over and slipping his hand under his wild bangs to feel his forehead, ignoring the tiny impulse that burned somewhere in his stomach. 

 

_ You- what the-  _ Hyde mentally babbled, and Licht saw his shoulders go taut in shock. Licht sighed and retracted his hand, just  _ looking  _ at him for a moment. From what his fingers had told him, Hyde’s fever had indeed gone down, but there was still a flush that spread darkly from the back of his neck to his still-bare back as he buried himself further into his arms with a groan. 

 

“You’re a sorry excuse of a Servamp, half-dead because you’re  _ stubborn,”  _ Licht said, mild and deadpan, and Hyde laughed dryly into his arms. 

 

“I am  _ greed,  _ after all, so keeping my thoughts to  _ myself _ seems to be fitting,” Hyde bit out, and Licht could hear the crooked edge of where Licht’s words stung. 

 

Licht winced. 

 

“And here I thought you’d realize keeping things to yourself is why you’re in this mess in the first place,” Licht quipped, leaning his back against the edge of the table to cross his arms and stare down at Hyde. Hyde only grumbled, shifting further away from Licht, and Licht rolled his eyes. “You still need to eat something, so what do you want?” 

 

That got Hyde to turn his face, the corner of his mouth and the flash of an eye through his hair narrowing suspiciously. “Why are you being so nice to me?” he asked, genuinely confused. 

 

_ Because….  _ “You’re of no use to me if you’re a diseased sack of flesh,” Licht replied, cutting off the thought bubbling up in his mind. Hyde scoffed and turned his face back into his arms, making Licht click his tongue. “Stubborn ass,” he whispered, and Hyde laughed quietly in Licht’s mind. 

 

_ Pot meet kettle, angel.  _

 

Licht didn’t reply, eye catching on the mark slicing through Hyde’s shoulder, pulled taut by his posture.  _ That’s right- the knife,  _ he remembered, seeing the memory of it embedding deeply into the flesh of Hyde’s arm, and found himself lifting a hand toward it before he could stop himself. 

 

First, just his index finger, waiting for Hyde to flinch- he twitched, but didn’t move away- and then his thumb joined it, gently rubbing over the mark. It was only a scar now, even with his illness making him heal slower than usual, but it still made Licht’s face fall. 

 

Licht pulled his hand away before he could dwell on the thought any further, hissing in surprise when a hand gently clasped around his wrist, almost a cruel facsimile of the crushing grip from earlier. “Please don’t stop,” Hyde mumbled, head turning further away- his ears were pink- as Licht blinked.   _ It feels good when you aren’t trying to kill me,  _ the thought finished, and Licht’s eyes widened at the depth of the reply. 

 

For someone who was so  _ clingy,  _ Licht never expected to feel a sense of being  _ touch-starved  _ emanate deep from Hyde. 

 

_ ‘Take a step back and try to see from his angle; there’s something you might find you didn’t realize, and that might help you understand why he’s acting the way he is,’  _ Kranz’s voice echoed in Licht’s ear, and he understood.

(Another connection, another bridge.) 

 

Licht said nothing, only reaching back toward Hyde once again, this time tracing the faint bruises around his shoulder and trying not to blush when he felt Hyde shudder against his touch. Hyde’s arm fell back to the table, curling against the other one as he buried his face back into his arms, and Licht’s fingers moved to the back of his neck, chasing the phantom image of their chain that normally latched so deeply there to strip Hyde down to nothing more but a weapon under Licht’s touch.  _ I suppose it’s not too far off,  _ Licht thought soberly, fingers pausing for a moment until Hyde pressed back into the touch. 

 

He could see Hyde relaxing, could  _ feel  _ him relax under his fingers as he focused on the warm skin underneath them, and the bond reacted accordingly as it unwound itself and hummed contentedly. Softer than any glissando he’d ever played, Licht trailed the pads of his fingers up the nape of Hyde’s neck until his fingers finally settled in his hair, still as soft as he remembered from when he’d woken up with his fingers running through it. He carded through it, reveling in the feeling, and the bond was magma hot. 

 

_ It’s almost like his spines,  _ Licht realized, nails lightly scraping at his scalp, pausing when he saw Hyde’s hands close into fists.   _ He’s shaking?  _ He leaned down, just barely, and let out a low breath when he saw the blotchy red staining what little of Hyde’s face he could see.  _ He’s  _ **_crying._ **

 

He had no jab to make, no quip or insult, and he nearly felt at a loss as he saw just how vulnerable Hyde was at that very second, and yet he had no other impulse but to continue his ministrations. 

 

_ Lich-tan-  _

 

_ Don’t. Just… don’t.  _

 

Licht didn’t know how to categorize what he felt in that moment, for there wasn’t even any music in that second; all he focused on was his fingers, his heartbeat, and  _ Hyde.  _

(There was something about it all that frightened Licht, this side of him that he’d unearthed, and for that one second he felt nothing of his angelic grace, as if remembering that for at least in this one moment he was still just a  _ boy.)  _

 

It was then that he heard the faintest of  _ oh’s  _ from behind him, and froze when he registered it came from the door where two pairs of eyes were now curiously  _ (knowingly)  _ watching. Licht’s fingers quickly retracted, sliding quickly back into his pocket, and he winced when he heard Hyde whimper ever-so quietly. “How is he?” Mahiru asked, and Licht huffed a laugh. 

 

“Crying, per the usual,” he deadpanned, and Hyde let out a muffled whine. 

 

_ No fair, angel, when you’re the one who made me,  _ he complained, and Licht looked down at him with the smallest of smiles quirking on his lips. 

 

“We just got back from the convenience store,” Mahiru continued, shaking the bag in his fist with a light smile on his face. “Are either of you hungry?” Kuro gave Mahiru a withering look, a silent comment passing between them that made Mahiru raise an eyebrow. 

 

Licht shook his head, but a muffled reply from Hyde made him look back down. “Speak up, shit-rat,” he chastised, and Hyde turned his head with a groan. 

 

“Did you guys get mac and cheese at all? That sounds really good right about now,” he mumbled, and Licht scrunched his nose. 

 

Mahiru bit back a surprised laugh. “No, but Kuro  _ did  _ get cheesy ramen,” he offered, and Hyde’s head finally popped up. (His hair was a mess and his face was blotchy, but there was something in his eyes that forced a stupid laugh from Licht’s mouth.)

 

“God, you look like a two-year-old who’s been bribed with cookies,” he commented, and Hyde only pouted at him, resting his chin in his hand as he stared petulantly at him. 

 

“Good thing I bought two,” Kuro drawled, and fished through the bag for a moment before chucking it toward the two of them; Licht’s hands instantly slipped from his pocket to catch it, wincing as the pressure forced his wrist the wrong way. (He didn’t notice Hyde’s eyes faintly widening at the motion.) 

 

“Technically it was  _ me  _ who bought it, since you refuse to eat during sunlight hours like the  _ rest of us,”  _ Mahiru complained, hands on his hips. 

 

“I’m a vampire, sue me,” Kuro argued, and Mahiru only scoffed. 

 

“I ate dinner  _ three hours ago  _ at  _ dinner time  _ with both Lily  _ and  _ Hugh, so don’t give me that,” he fired back, and Kuro withered tiredly. 

 

“What happened to your wrist?” Hyde suddenly asked quietly, ignoring the rest of the argument in front of them. 

 

Licht flinched, shifting the bowl to his other hand and sliding his arm back into the pocket. “Nothing,” he muttered, dropping the bowl in front of Hyde. 

 

Hyde squinted at him as he pulled the bowl to his chest, scrutinizing him. “Then why are you hiding it?” he questioned, and Licht shot him a sharp look, tightening his fingers around each other in his pocket. 

 

Hyde’s eyes narrowed further, and a beat of silence was Licht’s only warning before burning and lithe fingers sneaked into his pocket to extricate his hand, the absence of his cold rings more startling than Licht expected. Licht only hissed at the motion, trying to tug his hand away and only earning a bolt of pain instead. “Let  _ go _ of me, you piece of-” 

 

“You’re bleeding,” Hyde interrupted quietly, and Licht froze. Hyde’s eyes flicked up to Licht’s before back down to Licht’s wrist, turning it gently, and Licht turned his head away with a huff. “Did I do this?” 

 

“Does it matter?” Licht snapped, yanking it away, regretting his choice when he saw the pain echoed in how Hyde’s eyes flashed. “It’ll be fine before the concert, so drop it.”  _ I should want to skin him for trying to break my hand, but-  _ he saw something broken, something  _ punishing  _ darken in Hyde’s eyes-  _ I don’t feel angry enough for some reason, because he just looks so….  _

 

Though Hyde’s face shifted into one of an over-dramatized pout, a flicker of guilt wormed its way through the bond as it skipped from Licht’s face to his wrist, down to the patch at his shoulder, and then back up to his eyes. 

 

_...pathetic.  _

 

“Licht-san, are you sure you don’t want to eat anything? I don’t know how much you were able to get through before we interrupted your dinner with Kranz,” Mahiru suddenly said, making Licht jolt. 

 

“I’m fine, so just make sure the shitty rat actually eats,” he groused, less acid in his tone than he wanted as he pushed off from the table. “I’m gonna go to bed.” Mahiru frowned, something unnamable in his expression, and Licht saw Kuro sigh deeply. “What, do you plan on stopping me? It’s late anyway.” 

 

Hyde snorted, and Licht’s eyes flicked over his shoulder to see him tearing open the paper lid of the ramen bowl with a wry smile on his face. “Not that you care, Angel-chan, but I  _ am  _ feeling better, so it’s not as if I plan on jumping you again any time soon,” he said, a faint edge to his words that caught Licht’s ear, “so go ahead and sleep.” 

 

Licht knit his eyebrows, squinting just enough to make Hyde blink.  _ “I already said I care, so shut up and eat,”  _ Licht retorted, German only faintly crooked as the words fell from his lips faster than he could process. 

 

He watched as Hyde paused, fingers frozen in their endeavor to peel the rest of the paper from the bowl, and  _ stared  _ at Licht. He expected to hear a cough, a sly remark,  _ anything,  _ but when met with a rather infectious blush Licht just huffed and moved from the table, muttering a  _ ‘goodnight’  _ to the other two back in Japanese before brushing past them. 

 

As the door shut, Hyde was met with two pairs of inquisitive eyes, and he braced himself. “What did he say?” Mahiru asked, and Hyde shifted his face into something much more lascivious and teasing, mouth opening to reply, when- 

 

_ I can still hear you three, so watch your next words carefully,  _ **_dummkopf._ **

 

Hyde’s jaw snapped shut with an insulted noise, nose wrinkling in distaste.  _ You’re no fun.  _

 

“Hyde?” 

 

Hyde looked back up to the two and shrugged, swallowing down the sore feeling of his throat and the headache beginning the pound his temples. “Just his usual threats,” he said airily, turning his attention back to the bowl in front of him as he lifted it to his nose. “Ooh, smells spicy-  _ nice.”  _

 

“You have the attention span of a gnat,” Sleepy Ash complained, reaching down to snag the bowl from his hands before heading toward the sink with both bowls in hand. Hyde only flashed a grin before stretching noisily over the back of the chair, the motion making his ribs twinge before he settled his face back into the table. The dark felt nice against his headache, and he blew out a deep breath to shift the need to cough away from the front of his mind. 

 

“Are you feeling any better?” Mahiru pressed, hearing the chair across from him slide out as he settled into it. “You had us worried, particularly with that sake stunt of yours.” 

 

“Sure made me _ feel _ pretty damn good,” Hyde mumbled, not moving his face from the cool wood. 

 

“You, maybe, but did you take Licht-san into account?” 

 

Hyde stiffened, fingers tightening around his elbows. 

 

“Don’t push it, Mahiru,” Sleepy Ash chided to the sound of microwave buttons beeping. 

 

“Kuro…” Mahiru started, most likely matching an expression that Hyde couldn’t see being buried into the table. (Not that he needed to; Mahiru wasn’t very subtle in the first place as it was.) 

 

Another conversation bubbled around him, but he didn’t care to pay attention as his mind conjured the feeling of Licht’s fingers on his skin and running through his hair, warming his chest before it twisted sharply. With the sting, the following image of ghastly bruises and the feeling of Licht flinching away from him pounded in time with his aching heart, and he buried himself further away from the light of the room. 

 

He only faintly registered when his brother set a warm bowl down in front of him, a hand pressing gently- comfortingly- against his shoulder for a second before moving as he sat down to continue talking with Mahiru. When he ate, he barely tasted anything, the spice and the cheese drowned under the taste of earth and petals festering in his lungs.

(He was only able to stomach half of it.) 

 

Darkness followed him as he flashed them a grin before heading out of the room, miserably undressing as he went, only pausing when he saw Licht buried underneath his blankets already fast asleep. Something in him wrenched painfully at the sight, and Hyde felt tears sting at the back of his eyes as he tasted blood. (He wasn’t going to be sleeping well in the slightest that night.) 

 

*** 

 

Numb from sleep, barely awake, yet Licht thought he heard the sound of someone crying, choking; he couldn’t move, however, and squeezed his eyes shut tighter in some hope that the sound would stop. 

 

Fingers, toes, hands curled tightly, aching, until a light pressure at his shoulder and a feathery touch at his cheek made his body relax, and he reached out to fist warm fabric and  _ tug,  _ wanting whatever it was near him. 

 

(He wouldn’t realize that he’d inadvertently hooked his fingers into the front of Hyde’s night shirt and dragged him down to their futons, not letting go until he fell back into darker, deeper sleep- 

Nor did he realize the catalyst of recognition- the smallest of butterfly kisses on his cheek- would end up forcing them both into a nightmare.) 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really loved writing this chapter :D


	11. All I Ask of You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "In sleep he sang to me, in dreams he came  
> That voice which calls to me and speaks my name  
> And do I dream again? For now I find  
> The Phantom of the Opera is there-
> 
> Inside my mind."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buckle up, folks- it's time for the scene that sparked it all!  
> Enjoy ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

_ The smell of the forest, the press of pine and earth underfoot, the taste of fresh fruit _

_ Royal horns, tinkling royal laughter, royal emerald-  _

 

_ Guilt, hurt, dread, heartbreak  _

_ Never coming back, the stone is broken  _

_ (Oh no, not this dream again-)  _

 

_ The smell of paper and graphite, the feeling of stage flooring creaking beneath shoes, the taste of filched melon and sugar-sweet snacks  _

_ Velvet melodies, velvet, potent voice, velvet violet-  _

 

_ Guilt, hurt, dread, silence-  _

**_Roots._ **

 

_ (Wait, this isn’t the same as usual-?)  _

 

Crescendos pressed into the back of eyelids, heavy, rising to a screaming pitch as words words  _ words  _ spun out of control, each one a diamond-tipped note-turned-tear. 

 

Higher and higher it rose, a pair of red-rimmed eyes watching: 

Rich green 

Then blood red- 

_ Blue.  _

 

The crescendo crashed, breaking into silence, and suddenly Licht’s eyes snapped open as his chest heaved achingly.

 

_ Am I awake?  _

 

_ “Licht.”  _

 

Licht knit his eyebrows, eyes not quite able to focus until the soft sound of music-box piano-notes swirled around him in a familiar melody he knew he recognized but wasn’t able to place. 

 

_ “Licht, can you hear me?”  _

 

A sharp bright slant across his vision made Licht wince, and he brought a hand to his face with a displeased noise, squinting toward the offending source. When he looked up, his vision finally cleared, and his eyes widened before he felt his stomach drop.  _ Oh shit, again?  _

 

Before him was an endless black world spare a single stream of light from above that cut through the perpetual darkness, illuminating a small and rather pitiable blob of a figure alone under the spotlight. It glowed in unearthly amber, and Licht heard the tell-tale sound of warped crying. 

 

He sighed.  _ Stupid Hyde. _

 

“Why am I stuck in this dream again?” he asked, drumming fingers on his crossed arms. “You’ve been keeping it to yourself for a while now.” 

 

_ “It’s not quite the same, I’m afraid,”  _ came the reply, but it wasn’t from the figure in front of him; rather, it was all around, bouncing around the walls, reverberating _ in _ his head. _ “Haven’t you noticed?”  _

 

“Noticed  _ what,  _ shit-rat, outside of your obnoxious petulance?” Licht snapped, and the room shifted slightly under his feet. 

 

_ “It’s the wrong color, and has been for a while now.”  _

 

Licht grit his teeth. “What are you  _ talking  _ about? Color of  _ what?”  _

 

_ “What else would I mean? Haven’t you been paying attention, Licht? You’re not stupid, you know.”  _

 

An angry breath forced its way out of Licht’s lips, annoyance and worry boiling in his stomach. “Of  _ course  _ I’m not, you id-” 

 

_ “Then why won’t you admit it?”  _

 

“Enough with the games, Hyde,” Licht barked, eyes flashing angrily. “Instead of being cryptic, why not face me and  _ spit it out?”  _

 

_ “You’re not gonna like the answer, though,”  _ Hyde said sadly, voice still warped as it was whenever they were this deep in Hyde’s mind, and the spotlight- plus the blob of Hyde’s inner self- disappeared as the world was plunged in darkness. 

 

Licht felt unsteady, world tilted as that music-box song started playing louder. His hands fumbled for something to grab onto, searching and desperate, and a croaked  _ “Hyde?”  _ slipped from his mouth before he could stop it. 

 

“I’m right here, angel; I’m not gonna leave you in the dark,” Hyde mumbled, voice right over Licht’s shoulder, and Licht whirled around. He was met with darkness, but could sense a body standing in front of him. 

 

“What are you doing?” Licht forced out, and Hyde laughed sadly, his voice in tune to the tinny melody still playing. 

 

“My first ones were purple and gold,” Hyde said instead, and Licht jumped when he felt a hand on his arm. “They were rather pretty too, but I hated the smell of them- still do.” 

 

“The violets?” Licht asked shakily, confused by the sudden docile, defeated mood that washed over him; he didn’t move, feeling his heartbeat hammer against where Hyde’s fingers gently wrapped around his bicep. 

 

Hyde hummed. “They didn’t come until it was far too late, and I had absolutely no idea what it was,” he explained, his voice dipping into something nostalgically melancholy. “I learned that the people in that country called it the  _ Midsummer’s Curse, _ a punishment for tempting the fae.” 

 

Though the darkness didn’t lift, Licht felt as if he was standing in a field, surrounded by the summer wind and the smell of some sickly-sweet flower, all faintly numb on his skin as if he weren’t completely there. “Why are you telling me this? I don’t care about back then.” 

 

“I thought you ought to know, considering what I’ve put you through,” Hyde replied, and Licht huffed. 

 

_ “Hyde-” _

 

“Let me finish. Please.” The fingers tightened around his arm. 

 

Licht’s jaw snapped shut. 

Hyde took a breath. 

 

“They didn’t go away for the longest time, but the day they first bloomed was the second the executioner’s blade hit the deck- right there, in the square, the retainer of the princess was suddenly convulsing like someone possessed, unable to breathe, and-” he broke into a pathetic laugh, self-deprecating and cruel- “they all realized I’d fallen victim to the  _ curse.  _

 

“I didn’t know that it was caused by unrequited love until my older brother told me, finding me half-dead in the square the day he came to tell me about the meeting Sleepy Ash called, but some part… some part of me knew. It’s ironic, isn’t it, that the Servamp of Greed wasn’t able to have the person he loved the most, huh?” 

 

Licht was torn between sympathy and jealousy, sticky in his chest like molten gold.  _ Why is he doing this?  _

 

Hyde laughed again, but this time it was more ragged, more crooked, wet as his fingers limply slid down Licht’s arm. “I’ve nearly died many times in my long life, but none was as terrifying as the final day of that curse; for months I’d been reduced to barely anything but a corpse, until the day where the roots finally ripped through my lungs and I...stopped breathing entirely.” 

 

The room went utterly silent-

Licht’s breath hitched. 

 

“If I were human, I’d’ve been dead, but unfortunately, I wretchedly was still alive, but not quite whole. After all,  _ ‘the course of true love never did run smooth’.”  _

 

_ (Of course you would, borrowing words from someone else to hide your own insecurity.)  _

 

“I thought- I thought if I detached myself from empathy, from kindness, I’d be safe from the hurt, and I let myself be swept away instead of trying to make something of myself. So... imagine my surprise when the flowers came back again, starting with that telltale smell accompanying the buzz in my stomach.” 

 

Licht’s mouth opened, frozen on the first half of Hyde’s name when the air left his lungs as cautious fingers crept down toward Licht’s hand- searching, asking, cautious.  _ (He-?)  _ “I already said I don’t care about Ophelia,” Licht tried, words more air than voice as he tried to process what was happening. 

 

“This whole time you’ve known about them… when did I ever mention her? Only  _ you _ put her name to  _ these _ flowers,” Hyde said quietly, and the image of purely purple violets pressed into the back of Licht’s eyes, completely different from the field of soft gold and light purple flowers from the old memory. 

 

_ Then-  _

“What are you trying to say?” Licht said, fingers twitching against Hyde’s until he tentatively reached out, nudging- 

And Hyde’s gently closed around his, lacing their fingers together. 

(Licht’s heart stuttered.) 

 

“I already said you’re not stupid, Lich-tan,” Hyde teased, and the softest orange glow permeated the darkness; it felt as if Licht was finally opening his eyes, slowly and excruciating, as if the weight of the room was upon them. “Somewhere in that noisy head of yours and your music you’ve already figured it out, and I’m… sorry.” 

 

“Sorry for what?” Licht breathed, the room lightening enough that he could catch the wink of a crooked smile and the flash of a silver tag; whole, of course, as it always was in Hyde’s dreams. 

 

_ “‘Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind,’”  _ Hyde quoted, and while part of Licht wanted to smack him, another part was frozen as it started to dawn on him. 

 

“Use your own words,” Licht groused, fingers squeezing Hyde’s tightly in irritation as he shut his eyes. 

 

Hyde chuckled and stepped closer until was right in front of Licht, breath warm against Licht’s skin and heartbeat pounding through their hands. “I’m sorry that I’m so selfish,” he said, and Licht shivered when he felt the words brush over his lips. “But I have to go now.” 

 

“Go where?” 

 

Hyde didn’t answer, instead shifting forward, close enough that- 

_ If he moves barely an inch, his lips could- _

 

“These are for you, Licht,” he whispered in Licht’s ear instead, and part of Licht deflated in disappointment. The rest was a live wire, confused and alight in panic as something soft was pressed into Licht’s hand, replacing Hyde’s fingers as he squeezed Licht’s hand shut and brushed the faintest of apologetic kisses to the bruises at his wrist.  “For you, and nobody else.” 

 

_ He- these are-  _

 

Lips then gently pressed against Licht’s forehead, the kiss half caught by his bangs, and Licht’s eyes snapped open just as Hyde stepped away. His mouth fell open, unable to think of a word to say, to ask, to scream, to  _ demand,  _ stuck instead on a strangled rendition of Hyde’s name. 

 

“I’m sorry, angel,” Hyde said sadly, and Licht watched as the image of Hyde before him wavered between the one Ophelia knew- green-branched and young, naive- and  _ Licht’s  _ Hyde, both wearing the same tired smile before it all melted away into the darkness as he stepped out of the spotlight. 

 

“Wait, you can’t just-  _ Hyde!”  _ Licht lunged forward, free hand reaching forward to snatch Hyde away from the blackness, watching as the flash of the dog tag winked out of sight, and suddenly he was falling, falling to the sound of a music box that curled and sang sadly in his ears, alone and forsaken- 

 

**_‘Masquerade-’_ **

 

_ “Licht-san!”  _

 

**_‘Paper faces on parade-’_ **

 

_ “Licht-san, wake up!”  _

 

**_‘Masquerade-’_ **

 

_ “Hey, can you hear me? You’ve got to wake up!”  _

 

**_‘Hide your face so the world will never find you…’_ **

 

“LICHT-SAN!” 

 

Licht sat bolt upright, choking and wide-eyed as he tried to suck in a breath. “What?” he wheezed, eyes swinging blearily to the voice that had disturbed him. “What do you want?”

 

“You were yelling in your sleep,” Mahiru said, who was kneeling in front of him, one hand loitering near his shoulder, trying to catch his eye. “You were calling out for Hyde.” 

 

Licht huffed, but the faint action made him realize there was something wrong with his face, and when he brought his fingers to his cheeks he felt wetness there-  _ tears.  _ “Where is he?” he heard himself ask, staring at his hand in groggy shock. 

 

“I don’t know, but... I smell blood,” Kuro called from behind Mahiru, sleep-rumpled. 

 

Licht knit his eyebrows. “Blood? I don’t know what you’re-” his breath left him as he pressed a hand down beside him in the blankets, trying to stabilize himself, only to feel something cold and liquid under his fingers. Looking down, he saw that a slowly-drying mess of blood was indeed staining the majority of Hyde’s futon, littered with torn petals. “Oh  _ fuck.”  _

 

“Oh my  _ god,”  _ Mahiru breathed, looking down in horror as Licht brought his now-bloody hand to his face, cringing at the acrid smell of copper and violets. “What  _ happened?”  _

 

“I-” Licht coughed- “I have to go find him,” he rasped, fingers squeezing into fists before something already in his hand bit into his skin; his fingers tightened instinctively around it. 

 

“Do we need to get a doctor? What’s going  _ on?”  _ Mahiru continued, trying to catch Licht’s eye in the dark of the room, only to break off when he saw what Licht was holding in front of himself, iridescent and glittering in the night. “Is… that what I think it is?” 

 

_ ‘These are for you,’  _ Hyde had said, fingers pressing something insistently into Licht’s palm, and Licht’s stomach dropped as he twirled a single perfectly-crystallized violet in between his fingers.  _ ‘For you, and nobody else.’ _

 

Blood roared in his ears in shrieking crescendos as everything slid into place; Hyde had been right: the pieces had been there all along, but Licht had been too stubborn to believe the final picture, but it was undeniable as he watched the violet of the crystal spin sparks into the black of the room. 

 

It was beautiful and cruel, sharp and lovely as much as Licht’s most recent composition, and Licht was surprised to feel his eyes burn as everything came crashing down on top of him. Panic suddenly roiled in his stomach as he remembered Hyde’s urgent apology, repeated again and again- 

 

_ ‘I have to go now.’  _

 

_ “Fuck,”  _ Licht swore vehemently under his breath, the realization lead in his stomach just as something soured and twanged in the back of Licht’s mind as sharp as a blade. 

 

The violet suddenly  _ shattered,  _ turning into dust that mixed with the blood on Licht’s hands, and he  _ understood.  _

 

_ “Fuck!”  _ he repeated, shoving the blankets off of him and struggling to his feet, ignoring how his vision swam and forcing himself toward the door. 

 

“Woah, where are  _ you _ going?” Kuro called, but Licht ignored them as he slammed the door open and ran out into the main room, sliding the suite door open before anyone could follow him. 

 

_ “Licht-san!”  _ Mahiru yelled after him, but Licht was only focused on the pounding of his feet on the floor and the burst of horrendous pain tearing through his ribcage. 

 

He  _ sprinted  _ down the hallway in time to the rain that was screaming outside, and his chest ached as he searched and searched. 

 

_ Where is he, where  _ **_is he?_ **

 

Walls blurred together in a labyrinth as he tried to open his side of the bond, stumbling when a flush of white-hot pain sealed it shut. Staggering, he braced himself against the wall as his hand came to press against his chest, trying to catch his breath. It was futile, as each breath made him wheeze as it stung and  _ burned.  _

 

In time to each sting, pulsing through his head, down his back, at his shoulder, through his wrist,  _ everywhere,  _ something made his head jerk up like puppet strings, focusing on something in the green distance just outside of the hallway he’d stopped in. Rain fell hard enough to turn white, berating the grass and the trees outside in liquid bullets, but that wasn’t what made his eyes widen- 

 

Instead, it was contrast of white on green, the shape of a body collapsed in the middle of courtyard that had Licht sucking in a breath, shoving off the wall to sprint out into the rain, not caring as it started to soak him. 

 

Hyde’s name was already on his lips as he slipped toward him, mud and earth wet and unsteady under his feet to the point that he all but fell to his knees the second he was close enough. Hyde was on his face, buried in the bank of the pond with one arm floating on its surface, while the rest of him was curled limply like a ragdoll in the grass. Licht’s hands immediately hooked under his shoulder and pulled him out and away from the water; Hyde didn’t move, even when Licht flipped him onto his back. 

 

Pink rivulets of washed-out blood trickled away from Hyde’s face, and the shirt he’d changed into was more red at its front than white. Licht bit his lip before swearing, pressing a shivering hand against his chest to feel for a heartbeat, hissing when he felt nothing. “Fucking bastard,  _ no,”  _ he ground out, cupping Hyde’s face and leaning over him, searching for a sign-  _ anything-  _ telling him Hyde was still breathing, but was met with dreadful stillness and cold, cold skin under his. 

 

“You’re not allowed to die on me, you stupid, selfish fuck,” Licht swore, carefully shifting Hyde until his head rested on Licht’s knees and off of the ground. “I’m not done with you yet, so you can’t just-” the words broke off with an icy burst of  _ hurt  _ in his chest and he was shaking, but he couldn’t tell if it was from the cold or his own heart.  __

 

A sudden spark of remembrance from the dream came back to Licht, something about lungs and roots as an unbidden memory forced itself so vibrantly into his mind that he clutched at his head: 

 

_ The vile backstreets, rubble and earth in my teeth and under my nails, rot in my chest-  _

_ When will I die? Just kill me already  _

_ It hurts too much, it hurts to breathe, it hurts to move  _

_ If only someone could help me  _

_ If only someone could rip these things OUT OF ME-  _

_ Please, brother, father, anyone- _

_ I don’t want to be alone  _

_ Ophelia, why does it hurt? Why did you do this to me?  _

_ Why did you have to-?  _

 

The memory was a barrage of words and blurry vision and pain, pain,  _ pain  _ making Licht double over as he struggled to breathe, pain lancing through his chest before he realized- 

 

_ Rip them out.  _

_ Get them out.  _

_ NOW!  _

 

Licht took a breath and dropped his hands back to Hyde’s face, prying his jaw open, freezing when he saw the bloody mass in his throat.  _ (I thought violets didn’t have thorns-)  _

 

“Come on,” he whispered, fingers dipping into Hyde’s mouth to snag around as much of the mess as possible, tugging it out with far more resistance than he expected and wincing as fresh blood dribbled from his lips. He shifted his weight and dived  back in, this time using both hands to pull as more and more of the flowers- far more demonic and twisted than he remembered them- ripped out of Hyde’s throat.“Come  _ on,  _ dammit!” 

 

Licht grit his teeth and clenched his fists- now covered in dirt and blood alike- as he steeled himself to try again when Hyde twitched, a faint cough rattling out of him, and Licht’s heart soared in victory. “Breathe,  _ breathe,  _ before I punch a hole in that stupid chest for you,” he hissed, fingers looping around more of the snarled roots that snaked out of Hyde’s lips with each wet cough, more and more following as Licht tore out the obstructing plant. 

 

_ You’re not allowed to leave me until I kill you, you stupid demon-  _

_ So fucking BREATHE!  _

 

Hyde’s fingers moved, barely shifting toward himself, and Licht felt static confusion spill into his mind followed by an ice-cold shock of pain.  _ Good, he’s waking up.  _

 

The rain fell harder and harder until Licht felt the drops sting, but he kept mopping the blood off of Hyde’s face as more of the violets were expelled, not caring as his clothes were stained and his knees were starting to ache. 

 

_ (‘What makes the flowers go away, then, Mutti? You said not everyone dies.’  _

 

_ ‘Well,  _ **_Engel,_ ** _ you can either have them removed for you and suffer the scars of surgery and heartbreak, or they go away all on their own.’ _

 

_ ‘Their own? That doesn’t make sense.’  _

 

_ ‘Not everything needs to make sense, Licht, especially when it comes to love.’  _

 

_ ‘What do you mean?’  _

 

_ ‘Well, you see…. the flowers will go away if the love is returned.’  _

 

_ ‘But that doesn’t ever happen, does it?’  _

 

_ ‘You’re far too cynical for a ten year old, my dear. Not everything ends in tragedy, you know.’  _

 

_ ‘I don’t get it.’  _

 

_ ‘You won’t now. Maybe, sometime in the future, when you experience that kind of love for yourself…’  _

 

_ ‘I have competitions to focus on; maybe later.’ )  _

 

_ It hurts,  _ a voice gasped in Licht’s mind, making him jump. He looked down to see Hyde’s hands crawling up toward his face, one hand jerkily dipping into his mouth while the other fisted in his shirt.  _ It hurts and I can’t breathe.  _

 

“I know, but you have to,” Licht said, leaning forward to press his forehead against Hyde’s and cup the sides of his face, shutting his eyes with a sharp breath. (The faintest of feathery notes curled around him, new and light, like charred feathers turning to ash.)  _ You’re not leaving me.  _

 

Shaking fingers curled around one of Licht’s wrists, and Licht’s eyes opened to see Hyde looking up at him. “Lich-tan,” he croaked, before he gagged and turned sharply away from Licht, heaving into the grass, but instead of flowers all Licht saw were  _ roots roots roots.  _

 

Licht could do nothing but watch, one hand frozen at Hyde’s back as he coughed, until his strength left him and he collapsed into Licht’s lap, curled in on himself as he shook violently. 

 

Even as terror knotted in Licht’s stomach at the display as Hyde fisted his fingers into the fabric of Licht’s pants, he could hear Hyde sobbing-  _ he’s  _ **_breathing_ ** _ again.  _

 

_ It hurts, it hurts, it hurts,  _ Hyde cried, not quite in his right mind, and Licht only breathed out shakily as his fingers found their way to Hyde’s hair, scrubbing soothingly through it as the hand on his back pressed warmly against him; whether he was trying to steady Hyde’s heartbeat or his own, Licht wasn’t sure. 

 

“Todoroki-san, is he breathing?” a voice called over the shrieking rain, and he squinted up toward the voice in shock; one hand surreptitiously squeezed around Hyde protectively. 

 

Looking up, he saw the blonde woman he’d spoken to earlier carefully making her way through the rain, one hand shielding over her eyes as the rain soaked her uniform to the bone. “What do you want?” he snapped, and she bit back a smile before dropping to their side. 

 

“My little brother came to get me since I’m versed in medicine,” she explained, reaching out to toward Hyde; Licht tugged him away from her warily. She sighed and looked him in the eye. “I don’t have the same strength as Tetsu, so I’m going to need your help to carry your friend if you want the Hanahaki to be cleared.” 

 

Licht narrowed his eyes at her. “What do you know about his Hanahaki?” he interrogated, and she-  _ Sendagaya-san, I suppose- _ gave him a patient look. 

 

“We don’t have time for this,” she said gently, before gesturing behind her. “Two of the others are waiting to help us, and the  _ last _ thing he needs is hypothermia.” 

 

His eyes flicked behind her, catching sight of Kuro and Mahiru standing under the patio with towels (or Mahiru, as he squeezed them tightly to his chest while leaning out to catch sight of Licht and Hyde as Kuro kept an eye on him). Hyde had long gone quiet, but a tiny pulse at the back of Licht’s mind told him he was still- though barely- breathing. “Fine,” he relented, letting her reach forward to press her fingers to Hyde’s throat. 

 

“It’s weak, but he’s still got a pulse; that’s good,” she said, before retracting her fingers. “Did you manage to get the majority of the roots out?” she added, looking toward the mess beside the two of them. 

 

He nodded jerkily. “I think so.” 

 

A touch at his shoulder made him jump, and he leaned away as warm blue eyes smiled at him. There was something knowing in her expression that made him squirm. “He’ll be okay since you’re here,” she insisted, warmth in her tone that made mortification drip into his stomach. “Think you can help me carry him?” 

 

He didn’t respond and instead carefully maneuvered Hyde off of his legs and carefully slung an arm around his shoulders to haul him up; Sendagaya-san caught his other arm with her own to help Licht support him, and carefully made their way out of the rain. 

 

The next few minutes happened in a blur: 

 

Mahiru all but tackled Licht with a towel the minute they stepped into the hallway, and Kuro rushed forward to take Hyde from them, his vampiric strength making it much easier to scoop his brother up into his arms. Sendagaya-san took one of the towels from Mahiru and dried off Hyde’s hair, making his face scrunch ever so slightly before he winced. 

 

Next, they turned when they heard Tetsu- with a sleepy Hugh seated on his shoulders- call for them down the hall, and ushered them toward a small back room that vaguely reminded Licht of the room he’d woken up in when he’d gotten his concussion where an older woman was standing, who waved for Sendagaya-san to come in. 

 

The two women took Hyde from Kuro and then shooed the others out, much to Licht’s (loud) displeasure; they apologized as Licht swore, demanding that he be let inside as Mahiru pulled him back, until eventually the door was shut on them, leaving Licht angry, scared, and soaking wet. 

 

(Or, as his subconscious mind would prefer to remind him with a nudge that felt ever-so similar to Hyde, he was angry, scared, soaking wet, and  _ dangerously in love.  _ He couldn’t quite put words to the realization yet, having just barely been able to define the bizarre frustration that had been haunting him as of late, and truth be told it only made him realize he had to keep Hyde by his side  _ more.)  _

 

So, instead of going back to the room to sleep-  _ It’s three in the morning, Licht-san, you need to rest!-  _ Licht plopped down just beside the door, crossed his arms, and  _ waited.  _

 

He didn’t move for  _ hours,  _ even after the others tried stubbornly to chase him, and he eventually chased the fluttering, golden notes of his conclusion before darkness overtook him. (Lily found him in morning soundly asleep, fidgeting in his sleep, uneasy even in unconsciousness.) 

 

*** 

 

_ “Seriously? He hasn’t moved ONCE?”  _

 

_ “No, but as stubborn as he is I’m not surprised in the least.”  _

 

_ “What, no one bothered just…. Picking him up and moving him?”  _

 

_ “Well, I’m in no state to be lifting anyone and especially not hot-tempered eighteen-year-olds, but Tetsu did try before he nearly caught a boot in the face.”  _

 

_ “Jesus.”  _

 

_ “Mm, I believe he prefers ‘angel’, remember?”  _

 

_ “That wasn’t even a good one, Lily.”  _

 

_ “You can’t say I didn’t try.”  _

 

_ Who’s…. talking? My head feels funny and my chest hurts.  _

 

_ “Oh, he’s moving- oi, Todoroki, wake up.”  _

 

_ What was I doing again? Ah, that’s right; Hyde was-  _

 

“Oi!” 

 

A hand tapped at Licht’s shoulder, making him grunt and swat the offending limb before cracking open an eye to scowl at the perpetrator. Misono’s flat expression peered down at him, and Licht scrunched his nose before rubbing at his face. “I’m not going to bed,” he grumbled, rubbing the heel of his hand into his eye. 

 

“It’s seven in the morning,” Lily- loitering behind Misono- chimed in, and Licht squinted up at him before craning around them to see that there was indeed the traces of morning light seeping through the windows. 

 

“Oh, fuck,” Licht mumbled, groggy and uncoordinated. Misono snorted before tapping at him, cocking an eyebrow when Licht’s eyes instantly snapped open.  _ “Stop that!”  _

 

“They’re done with Hyde now, you know,” Misono drawled, and Licht’s breath froze. “I think he’s up now, actually, but the Sendagayas are dead on their feet from stabilizing him.” 

 

Licht only focused on the words  _ ‘Hyde’  _ and  _ ‘done’,  _ shoving up from the floor (and ignoring how much of him cringed at his rainwater-mud-blood-stained clothes were stiff and cracked as he moved) and instantly sliding open the door without any other preface or care as the Lust pair tried to slow him down. 

 

_ Where is he, where is he-?  _

 

“See, I told you he’d be impatient to see me,” a cheeky voice commented, croaky and rough, but it was undeniably  _ Hyde.  _

 

Licht paused at the threshold of the small room, which seemed to function as a small clinic of sorts and certainly smelled as such from the biting smell of antiseptics and other herbs permeating the room. Hyde was sitting in his futon with blankets curled around his waist, gaunt and bruise-eyed but otherwise cheery as he gave Licht a crooked grin, this time one that wasn’t hiding petals of pain bitten between his teeth. 

 

“All of the Hanahaki is cleansed and he’s stable now,” one of the woman told him tiredly yet relieved, but the words were watery in his ears as he stared at Hyde, feeling the bond warm and spread from Licht’s chest and down his arms, twining around fingers and gently tugging at his mind in a quietly familiar nudge that he hadn’t realized had been missing for so many months now. 

 

_ I’m back, Lich-tan.  _

 

One minute he was stock still and the next he’d practically shoved his way into Hyde’s lap and wrapped his arms around him unyieldingly, one hand clasped at the back of his head as Licht dropped his face into Hyde’s shoulder.  _ “You fucking idiot,”  _ Licht chided in German, fingers tightening around Hyde, earning a rather hedgehog-like squeak from the shell-shocked vampire. 

 

Licht couldn’t see Hyde’s face, but he could  _ feel  _ the surprise stiffen his body before it started to relax, started to  _ melt  _ into Licht as he recognized his comfort.  _ “I said I was sorry,”  _ Hyde mumbled, and Licht tugged sharply on the short strands of hair under his fingers, earning a short laugh and the feeling of arms carefully caging him as Licht was shifted comfortably into Hyde’s lap. 

 

_ “That was a dream, so it doesn’t count, you shitty rat,”  _ Licht countered into Hyde’s shoulder. 

 

_ “Whatever you say,  _ **_kleiner Engel._ ** _ ”  _ Hyde earned another tug for that one, this time a much sharper sting as Licht had gone for the thin hairs at the back of his neck that Hyde responded to with a yelp. 

 

“We’ll tell you a bit more in a bit,” Sendagaya-san (the younger) said, knowingly and gently, but Licht didn’t bother to deign her with a response as he focused on the feeling of Hyde under his fingers, breathing, warm, and no longer smelling of violets and blood. 

 

_ I refuse to let him out of my sight,  _ Licht vowed stubbornly, burying further into Hyde’s collarbone and refusing to let go. 

 

***

 

_ You’re actually rather clingy when you want to be, aren’t you, angel?  _

 

_ I will personally break your ribs again for you if you so much as think of saying that to me again.  _

 

_ What, can’t handle a bit of the truth? _

 

_ Shut up.  _

 

_ Aw, you’re cute when you’re embarrassed- hey, ow, don’t pull on the studs, that hurts-!  _

 

_ Then  _ **_shut up_ ** _ and stop squirming, shit-rat!  _

 

_ As you wish, Lich-tan. _

 

_ I hate you.  _

 

_ No, obviously you don’t.  _

 

_ Shut it.  _

 

_ Your ears are so red, oh my god-  _

 

_ Let me hold you, you fucking moron.  _

 

_ Ooh, someone’s being forward, now aren’t they- OW, okay, okay, I yield!  _

 

_ As you should, demon.  _

 

_ God, that’s hotter than it should be- I’ll stop, I’ll stop, I promise-  _

 

_ You better, or I’ll kill you myself!  _

 

_ Well, that’d certainly be poetic then, now wouldn’t it?  _

 

_ Shush; too loud.  _

 

_ Sorry, sorry.  _

 

(No one was surprised in the slightest to find Licht passed out soundly against Hyde, snoring gently into his shoulder as Hyde rubbed at his back; he held a finger to his lips when Kuro and Lily entered the room, earning a pair of knowing looks that he grinned widely at.) 

 

_ ***  _

 

The majority of the night had come from struggling to keep Hyde’s breathing regulated, from what Haruka- the name of Tetsu’s sister, as he was finally told- said, explaining that they were lucky he only needed a few rounds of intense emetics instead of full-blown surgery. “In all honesty, he should have been dead from the severity of his wounds,” she explained, a sadness falling over her face. She’d pulled Licht aside to talk with him while the others were talking with Hyde inside the small room; he could hear their chatter behind him. “He’s lucky you were there with him when he reached that stage, Todoroki-san.” 

 

Licht shifted, hands fiddling with each other in his pockets before one crept out to tug at his hair. “He’s too stubborn to die, but certainly loves to make himself suffer,” he said bitterly, and she laughed, before cool fingers gently touched at his bad wrist. 

 

He flinched, giving her a look, but she only spread her hands in surrender. “I didn’t mean to startle you,” she placated, and he huffed. “However, it’s best that those wounds be taken care of.” 

 

“I don’t need your help,” he instantly retorted, eyes stubbornly focused on the wall behind her. 

 

“Well, if you won’t let me help you, you ought to stabilize it yourself, then, so that you don’t aggravate it further,” she suggested, leaning down to catch his eye with a mirthful- yet somehow still gentle- bluntness to her expression. “After all, swelling would only impede your ability to play, wouldn’t it?” 

 

He knit his eyebrows suspiciously. “Who told you that?” he interrogated, and she laughed again as she stepped back from him. 

 

“Hyde is rather talkative,” she said cryptically, and Licht felt a simultaneous burn of embarrassment and irritation burn at his neck. 

 

_ I can feel your annoyance from here, angel- what’s got you in such a tizzy?  _

 

_ Fuck you, stupid rat.  _

 

_ Ooh, is that a threat or a to-do list?  _

 

Haruka stared at Licht in confusion as he suddenly went cherry red, half choking before he whipped around and marched back toward the room, blinking when a loud shriek of something in jumbled German suddenly reverberated from the walls. She paused, then laughed quietly to herself, even at the sound of the chaos. 

 

After all, it was a far better sight than the one of Licht- looking so young and  _ scared-  _ shielding the unmoving Hyde from the rain, blood-stained and broken-hearted. 

_ Far  _ better than when Hyde, delirious from pain and medication, was lost and afraid in haziness and calling for Licht, searching for him blindly even when Haruka and her mother had to force him down to keep him from hurting himself further. 

 

The look on Licht’s face when he’d shoved his way into the room to see Hyde grinning at him and  _ breathing  _ was one that warmed Haruka to her bones, though she wondered if he knew just how relieved and utterly love-struck he looked in that moment. 

(Something told her he didn’t just quite yet, but it wouldn’t be long.) 

 

“Lich-tan, that’s my  _ ear-!”  _

 

“I don’t care! You’re being  _ annoying!” _

 

She swallowed a laugh and turned from the door, silently making her way back to her family’s quarters for some well-needed rest. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (yes I know the lyrics at the beginning are not from All I Ask Of You but you get what I was goin for ya)


	12. The Point of No Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the storm-  
> It's not what they expected.

_ A few days later, two days before the concert.  _

 

“Ugh, it’s so  _ hot!”  _

 

“The screen’s already open, you moron, so let me sleep in peace.” 

 

“Well,  _ brother,  _ I’d strip any more if I could, but I’d end up blinding everyone with this glorious body of mine.” 

 

“Lawless, for the love of god,  _ shut up.”  _

 

“Aw, don’t get so insecure just because  _ you’re  _ barely a stick under all of that fur!” 

 

Licht- seated on the floor of the bedroom- slid the door open to peer into the living room in annoyance at being disturbed, slowly raised an eyebrow when he saw Mahiru intercept a disgruntled cat attempting to launch toward a smirking Hyde lounging on the couch. Kuro complained, but eventually went limp as Mahiru scolded him. He climbed up onto Mahiru’s shoulder and flopped down, stretching out miserably in the heat. 

 

“I’m in the middle of something,” Licht called evenly, his intent clear enough in his tone that Mahiru winced. 

 

“Sorry, Licht-san,” he called, and Kuro huffed absently. Mahiru rolled his eyes before poking at Kuro and continuing. “I’m impressed you’re not dying of heatstroke trapped in there; aren’t you hot, working in that room?” 

 

Licht scoffed. “Of course not,” he retorted, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned away from the notebook in front of him. “After all, heat won’t affect me, since I’m-” 

 

“A glorious angel, yada yada, we get it,” Hyde drawled, the syllables sticking to Licht like the sweat dripping down his tank top. 

 

They hadn’t really….  _ talked  _ since that day in the courtyard, much to the others’ chagrin. It showed in the way they overthought each word, too stubborn to voice the damning truth they wore on their bleeding sleeves. 

 

Licht flattened his lips into a thin line. “Don’t interrupt me,” he quipped, and Hyde snorted. 

 

“Let me have this one moment, since you’ve been shacked up in there since I woke up and you’ve said like three words,” he retorted, stretching his arms over the back of the couch. 

 

Licht stared at him, fingers tapping on his arms. “I’m busy,” he deadpanned, not catching the look Kuro gave Mahiru before the two relocated to the kitchen table. 

 

“Oh come on, you’ve been  _ ‘busy’  _ for  _ months!”  _ Hyde whined, lolling over the back of the couch dramatically, chest on display as he stretched, and Licht caught himself staring at the shifting planes of skin peeking out from where Hyde had unbuttoned his shirt. “Wasn’t the point of this vacation to  _ relax?”  _

 

“I’m almost done,” Licht argued, and Hyde huffed. 

 

“Can’t you just take a break for once? It’s hot and boring,” he complained, opening his eyes to stare petulantly at Licht. 

 

Licht’s eyes skipped back down to the notebook in front of him, where music neatly bled into each line in a work of art that finally was beginning to make  _ sense,  _ rapaciously demanding a ending to its story. He ground his teeth. “Go take a nap if you’re  _ bored _ , then, or a bath,” he said, hoping for Hyde to get the hint, but it was to no avail as Hyde turned faux-teary eyes on him.  _ (I’m going to walk over and stamp on that damn scarf of his if he doesn’t shut up-)  _

 

“You’ve been ignoring me for  _ days _ now, Lich-tan!” Hyde continued, one hand dramatically pressing to his chest to match his sugary words, but the faint spark of hurt sincerity flaring at the back of Licht’s mind kept Licht from slamming the door shut in his face. “Even after my  _ miraculous  _ recovery too!” 

 

Licht let out a low breath. “I swear-” 

 

“Kranz won’t kill you if you take a small break, I promise,” Hyde teased, and Licht raised an eyebrow at him. 

 

(“Bet you ten dollars something’s gonna get broken,” Kuro mumbled quietly, earning a chiding poke in the nose that made him wrinkle his face. 

 

“I’ll take you up on that,” Misono muttered, earning a faint snort from Tetsu, who only shook his head before sliding the door of the bathroom open. 

 

“Mm, I don’t think so… they’re talking, at least,” Lily added, leaning on his palm with delighted interest. “So let’s just let them go.”) 

 

“I  _ said  _ I was almost done, shit-rat, so I’m  _ sure  _ there’s something you can find to entertain yourself with,” Licht ground out. 

 

Hyde’s face fell for a second before he twisted it into a pout, but Licht caught the stumble and hated how his chest twisted. “You’re missing the point,” Hyde muttered, fingers toying at the chain around his throat. 

 

Licht rolled his eyes, annoyed. “What, that you’re needy and loud?” he threw back, spreading his hands in an irritated gesture. 

 

“Well,  _ sue me,  _ that’s what usually happens when people are hospitalized on their birthday,” Hyde eventually spit out, defeatedly shutting his eyes. 

 

Licht short-circuited, the ice-water realization hitting him hard enough to make the bond flush cold. 

Then, he squinted at Hyde suspiciously. 

 

“I’m not fuckin’ with ya if that’s what you’re gonna say,” Hyde said, interrupting Licht’s train of thought before he could even voice it, and Licht’s stomach twisted. (Was it irritation or something else? He didn’t care to define it.) Licht said nothing, only slowly shoving off of the floor to stalk toward Hyde, whose eyes were still closed as he leaned back over the couch. “It’s been three days and  _ nothin’!  _ Like, it’s not  _ my  _ fault that my birthday doesn’t happen to coincide with a holiday unlike  _ some  _ people, but the gesture would’ve been appreciated, you know? And I would’ve  _ loved  _ to see you-” 

 

“Stop babbling,” Licht said, standing over Hyde with a scowl on his face. “If it mattered that much to you then you would’ve said something  _ much  _ earlier, so cut the shit.” 

 

Hyde didn’t open his eyes, spreading his hands lazily in response. “There’s nothing more to be said, angel, but I suppose if I was able to coax you out of your room I should consider that a gift from you, since you didn’t bother to remember.” 

 

Licht glared down at him, but the gesture was lost on Hyde.  _ There’s something more you aren’t telling me,  _ Licht accused, and Hyde only smirked; Licht’s blood burned. 

 

“If you aren’t gonna say anything, then maybe you  _ should _ just go back to-” Hyde started, words cut off when Licht clapped his hands to the side of his face hard enough to make him jump, then leaning down to press a sharp kiss to Hyde’s lips to shut him up. 

 

With his hands still clamped to the side of his face, Licht pulled away to stare at Hyde, whose eyes had snapped open in time to the shocked blush on his face. “Now you can’t say I didn’t give you anything,” Licht said lowly, before retracting his hands, standing back up, and swiftly making his way out of the suite before another word could be said. 

 

Hyde was frozen, heart pounding and face burning, and it wasn’t until he heard a loud “Oh my  _ god-”  _ from someone at the table that he broke out of his trance. He slapped his hands to his face with a sound that was a half a shriek and half a groan, caught completely off-guard. 

(For all his flirting, Hyde had a miserable track record when it came to  _ lasting _ affection.) 

 

He slid down into the couch, hands pressing further into his face, but there was an ineffable smile creeping helplessly onto his lips as he felt a similar bubble of embarrassment and disbelief from Licht. 

 

_ What a hell of a birthday gift, Licht-tan-  _

_ You gave me your first kiss.  _

_ (I shouldn’t have expected anything less shocking coming from you, angel.)  _

 

*** 

 

“Well, I guess it was  _ Lawless _ that was broken.” 

 

“Shut it, Sleepy Ash.”

 

“The threat would be more believable if you weren’t  _ bright red.” _

 

Hyde just groaned loudly.

 

***

 

Licht was indeed in a similar state of mortification as he loitered outside of suite door, leaning against the corner of the hallway. It was a pitiful state for an angel of any sort to be in, thrown off-kilter by his own bluntness, but in the end, he was forced to remember he was just a childish boy in love with a heart just as childish.  _ Why did I do that? And why did I pick  _ **_him_ ** _ of all people?  _ he groaned to himself, eyes shut as he pressed a hand to his temple.  _ Stupid demon, charming an angel like that; he needs to be-  _

 

The door slid open, making Licht jump uncharastically, and he let out a slow, defeated breath when he saw a familiar head of hair pop out of the doorway. “Don’t,” he mumbled, turning his head away when a quiet laugh echoed down the hallway. Hyde didn’t say anything more as he carefully crept toward Licht, who’d dropped his hands to cage them over his chest. 

 

While Licht played the annoyed, frustrated persona on Hyde, hoping it would stave him off, it melted away uselessly when he was met with a gentle and oh-so painfully sincere smile. 

 

Fingers lightly curled around one of Licht’s wrists- the healing one, now green with bruises and no longer sore to the touch- before carefully pulling at it, thumb stroking the inner skin of it. Licht looked up at Hyde, who wore a silent question on his face, a three-word declaration easily painted on his features and humming in the music that spiralled around them. 

 

It was a silent question, a silent affirmation, a silent request of permission that glittered almost disbelievingly in bright eyes- 

 

Licht answered it all by pulling Hyde back toward him, reveling in the spark of self-gratification and shock that buzzed through Hyde as he kissed him soundly, starting soft and pulling back with a scrunched nose. Hyde blinked at him, worried, before Licht shoved Hyde’s glasses to the top of his head and dived back in eagerly, fingers curling in his shirt as he felt a laugh hum between Hyde’s lips. 

 

It was fingers in hair and hands around waists, tugging and feeling without reservation, a thousand withheld words spoken without volume  _ (thanks you’s and I’m sorry’s and everything else in between),  _ the nip of teeth at the soft skin of lips and the faintest tang of blood earning a tug at hair, clumsy and new and sweet all at once- 

 

It was the first way those two would say  _ I love you,  _ and they wouldn’t want it any other way after all of the trouble they’d gone through to get there.

 

_ (“You  _ **_are_ ** _ rather adorable when you blush, you know; I wasn’t lying.”  _

 

_ “I regret kissing you.”  _

 

_ “No, you don’t.”  _

 

_ “..... I don’t.”  _

 

_ “Holy f-”  _

 

_ A press of a palm over lips to stifle a red-cheeked response, only exacerbated by the feeling of lips pressed to the soft skin and a sharp huff of breath before toes were lightly stepped on.  _

 

_ “Don’t ruin it.”  _

 

_ A warm laugh.  _

 

_ “I wouldn’t dream of it, angel.”)  _

 

\-------

 

_ The morning of the concert.  _

 

“Who the hell’s knocking at this hour?” 

 

“Sleepy Ash, it’s nearly noon.” 

 

“Your point?” 

 

“Never mind; I’ll go get it.” 

 

Behind the door was a chipper-looking Kranz, who waved at Lily and Kuro brightly. “Considering the walls are still standing and I wasn’t called to get them, I assume everything went well?” he asked, not missing the warm smile Lily gave him. 

 

“They’re both still sleeping, I believe,” he answered, nodding toward the bedroom door. “Up late, as usual.” 

 

Kranz gave him a wary, searching looking, earning a snort out of Kuro. “Do I want to know?” 

 

“Oh, is that Kranz I hear?” Mahiru called, sticking his head out of the other bedroom, face brightening when he caught sight of the man. “You’re here earlier than I thought!” 

 

Kranz sighed, carding a hand through his hair. “I thought it best to get those two as early as possible to avoid any hang ups,” he said dryly, and Mahiru nodded. 

 

“I think they were still sleeping when I got up,” Mahiru said, before he was joined by Hugh at the door, who peeked around the corner to squint at Kranz. He still had a towel wrapped around his shoulders, and his hair was a wet, tangled mess. 

 

“I’m not done with your hair, Hugh,” Tetsu called from in the room, earning the faintest of laughs from Mahiru. He turned and shepherded the sleepy Hugh back into the room, turning back to mouth a  _ give me a minute!  _ as he disappeared behind the wall. 

 

Kranz shook his head in amusement before cocking a hip, turning back to the others. “Is everything okay? I mean, last I saw Licht he was rather upset, and Hyde was well onto his way to Nirvana through sake alone,” he said, face falling ever so slightly. “And besides, it’s rather late for Licht to still be sleeping.” 

 

“Why don’t you go check on them?” Lily suggested, and Kranz narrowed his eyes at him. There was something they weren’t telling Kranz, and a creeping suspicion niggled at the back of his mind. 

 

“Are you  _ sure  _ I shouldn’t be worried?” he asked slowly, knitting his eyebrows, and Lily smiled secretively, stepping back from the door to let Kranz in. 

 

_ If I find those two covered in stitches and bandages I’m going to have Gil give them a good talking to,  _ Kranz groused, before sighing and carefully making his way to the door he’d been directed to. Quietly, cautiously, he slid the door open, trying not to rattle it in its frame, and peeked inside, searching for them. At first, he saw nothing spare their effects mingled with their roommates’: the stray shirt here and there, paper torn from notebooks, the occasional sock. He frowned and stepped in further, tilting his head, until he spotted a head of blond, mussed hair peeking out from the futon.  _ There we go, found one of them- wait.  _

 

He nearly laughed aloud in disbelief as he crept to the other side of the room, finding where Licht had gone: buried face-first in Hyde’s chest with one hand fisted in his shirt, the other arm curled loosely around the curve of Hyde’s waist. Hyde, meanwhile, kept Licht tucked to his chest, and both arms were wrapped so tightly around Licht as if even in unconsciousness he was afraid of Licht leaving him. 

 

Kranz had seen what had happened when Hyde had crept into Licht’s bed many times before to know that this was certainly not one-sided, for there was absolutely no way that Licht- being the light sleeper he was- would’ve let Hyde completely tangle themselves together without a fight. Yet, here they were, both peacefully asleep and bruise-free, and Kranz couldn’t help but smile when he saw Licht burrow further into Hyde in an effort to shield his face from the faint slant of light creeping through the window. 

 

_ Well, it’s about time,  _ he thought to himself as he stepped around them to reach for the window, carefully opening the drapes instead of shouting them awake as he initially intended to and slipping out of the room as the first sign of discontent made itself known. “What did you guys  _ do?”  _ he whisper-yelled as he shut the door behind him. “I’ve been trying to get Hyde to tell him for  _ months  _ and nothing!” 

 

“Licht kinda forced his hand,” Kuro drawled from the couch, nose in a game that blipped from his DS. “It got messy, but with those two,  _ everything _ is.” 

 

“Well, you’re certainly right about that,” Kranz chuckled, before checking his watch. He’d told Gil to give him an hour or so before returning to pick them all up, anticipating much more of struggle in getting those two in order, but something told him it wouldn’t be too much trouble this round. 

 

_ “Oh, god, who turned on the fucking sun?”  _

 

_ “Your arm’s digging into my ribs, stupid Hyde, move it.”  _

 

_ “I can’t even  _ **_feel_ ** _ my arm!”  _

 

_ “That’s not my problem, now is it?”  _

 

_ “It will be once I refuse to let you get up!” _

 

_ “No, don’t you dare- HYDE!”  _

 

_ “What? ‘S just a bit of spit.”  _

 

_ “On my face, you idiot!”  _

 

_ “Isn’t that where you like it?”  _

 

_ “No, you piece of- off, NOW!”  _

 

_ “Mm, no, you’re warm, so how about I just-”  _

 

A thump sounded from the room, making all heads turn toward the door as a muted swear and a shriek of laughter echoed through the door. 

 

_ (Or maybe not,  _ Kranz thought tiredly.) 

 

_ “Oi, we need to leave soon!”  _ Kranz barked in French, dragging a hand down his face.  _ “Clothes first, then fighting!”  _

 

_ “Oh fuck, Kranz is here-?”  _

 

_ “Sorry, Mom!”  _

 

_ “Shut it, shit-rat!”  _

 

_ “Ow, ow, that’s my- OW!”  _

 

Kranz looked over to the others, including Mahiru, who’d stuck his head out of the door again at the noise. “Is there any chance I can drop them off here again sometime soon?” 

 

The room burst out laughing in time to the muted tussle coming from inside, which was punctuated by the door sliding sharply open as a hysterical Hyde tripped through it, wheezing as Licht- in a humorous combo of boxers and his Lead- chased after Hyde with murder on his tongue in a messy mix of German-tainted Japanese. 

 

Kranz slapped a hand over his face. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *claps* He did it, folks   
> Fuckin finally


	13. Bravo, Monsieur

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fall from grace burning into a flight from hell- 
> 
> It all boils down in the stunning resolution of Licht Jekylland-Todoroki:   
> Salvation. 
> 
> (With a silent audience of one setting the spark for it all.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for your patience- this is the end!   
> I really wasn't expecting this to get as long as it did, but I had so much fun working on it and it just got bigger and bigger.   
> I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did!

By now, the summer was slowly starting to ebb away as autumn approached, creeping toward the horizon, but the coming cold was of no concern to Licht as he folded away the summertime into his newly-completed piece, the crown jewel of a trifecta-laden composition. 

 

On stage, the first pieces came easily- the first two acts of a play, reaching its climax- as they always did, but there was a different color this time, a different energy that had the audience holding their breath unlike any other Jekylland-Todoroki concert: 

 

_ Fall From Grace,  _ the beginning, the introduction to a story of madness in ivory-boned wings that were charred and scorched by vanity, by pride, by a lust for something just out of reach that gripped the audience by the throat and coaxed their mouths open to drink in the sweetly-noxious nectar of temptation. It was soft and delicate, fine-tuned and fluttering like a heart falling in love as it danced and twirled above their heads in golden feathers. 

 

Then, the fall, sharp, demonic, a cry of chromatics as the first piece swiftly ended with Licht’s fingers heavy on tritones and black keys. (No one dared to even think of bringing their hands together, for they knew the story was far from over.) 

 

His head was held low, eyes shut as he began the next piece in deep, rhythmic cords that beat like a bass drum, building into more and more of a melody as it stuttered into life as a restarted heartbeat, and soon that sweetly-singing charm of the first piece melted into the sensual, dangerous minor of  _ Flight From Hell  _ as Licht threw his head back. 

 

There was fire in his expression and dripping from his notes as they swirled around him in char black, viscous and scarred as if gouged from the skin and ripped from wings as they burned like a scourge through the room, and to those who’d heard the performance before when it was still new, they knew there was something reborn, something  _ reignited  _ about it now that was  _ intoxicating.  _

 

Without words, Licht sang of a fallen angel and a reborn demon, both the wicked curse and the blessed salve of the other that burned brighter and more damned than any supernova, and it showed on his face in a rare exhibition of emotion. 

 

These pieces  _ meant  _ something to him, and he was utterly pouring his heart onto the keys in front of him so potently that the audience was more spellbound than any other performance yet. 

 

_ (“‘Tis now the very witching time of night  _

_ When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out  _

_ Contagion to this world,”  _ a quiet voice hummed in his mind, to which Licht spitefully sang back in challenge  _ “Past the point of no return; no backwards glances!”)  _

 

Licht suddenly went from playing heavily on both hands to easing off onto one, the melody slowing down as he pedaled it a stop like blood going tacky, fingers lighter than a psalm over bloodied wounds before a quiet, broken chord rang out from under his fingers in a whispered regret like words not quite heard before his hand lifted from the keys. The notes reverberated through the room as his foot was still pressed to the pedal, his eyes sliding shut as they slowly faded out. 

They echoed through the very hearts of the audience itself, waiting in anticipation. 

 

There was a pause as Licht gathered himself, taking in a deep breath before he slowly opened his eyes. This would be the first time anyone heard his conclusion, as he’d kept it out of ear shot from everyone he knew, and the specific presences in the audience did nothing to quell his childish, white-haired anxiety. 

 

_ I am an angel,  _ he told himself, stretching his fingers, and something silently nudged his head upward to look over the glittering black of the piano and deep into the wings, where a pair of glowing eyes and a white-sparked smile met him; waiting, hungry. 

 

_ Greedy.  _

 

He smiled darkly,  _ victoriously  _ then, for there was no other sin he would so willingly indulge, and should there be a challenge offered he would rise to it, weapons raised. 

 

He took a sharp breath then and brought his fingers back to the keys in a sharp chord cluster of a war declaration, that copper-stained rage that once haunted him now a vicious battle cry that had the blood singing, singing of delirium, singing of falling, singing of  _ glory  _ as it rose into a beautiful crescendo that felt like flying and falling all at once; wings stretched out, feathers tasting the sunset, steeping in the clouds as the notes lifted them upward.

 

Next the piece dipped into maroon, into the color of a fading bruise the same shade as the purple sunset as it began to swing, slowing down enough pause as if asking for someone’s hand in a dance. 

 

Licht looked up to the wings, waiting, raising an eyebrow, and smiled darkly when he heard the faintest hitch of a breath caught off guard spark in the back of his mind. 

_ (Yes-)  _

 

The music surged forward into life as the next movement took hold, low and building, and Licht found himself leaning into the music as he played, eyes falling shut as the music danced like a duet over ocean waves, a pair of ageless lovers dancing alone in their salt-encrusted palace. It was moving and deep set, sincere, and told the story of hurt, of fire, of falling and blood, but also sang of angels and rebirth and water- 

 

It was a story of finding oneself in the ashes and scraping away the dirt around a curse-stained heart and falling in love. 

 

Now, the piece began to slow as the adrenaline wore off, until what remained was the quietest flutter of a heartbeat- no, two heartbeats singing in octaves apart from each other, in perfect step with their blood-stained hands twined together. The familiar melodies from the first two pieces began to sing again, but their harsh edges were worn down into stained glass, perfectly complementary just as he wished, and he played it with his eyes shut and body swaying. 

 

It was a sonata of a thousand colors all streaming through the broken windows of a church, a wave of scintillating gold that sparkled through the concert hall like bird’s wings brushing past the audience’s cheeks before one hand lifted from the keys to let the other play a slow, descending scale into the depths of the ocean, ending in a quiet, finally-completed resolution like a dancer dipping their partner to kiss them deeply. 

 

(It tasted of feathers and ash, kissing a demon. Scars and fire and blood all burning with an endless greed, and Licht  _ loved it.)  _

 

There was silence throughout the hall as the music faded away, and the story of a demon and an angel melted away to reveal a boy sitting alone at a piano, and it was in that silence that the audience listened, saw,  _ realized:  _

 

This was the end of the final piece-

This was Licht Jekylland-Todoroki’s  _ Erlösung,  _ his  _ Salvation,  _ and it was the most colorful his heart had ever been, for it was painted in a shade that most of the audience was unfamiliar with. 

 

_ (Who is that gold hiding amongst the familiar crystalline silver, warming the ice to make it wickedly-sharp and free-flowing-?)  _

 

It was then, as Licht stared at the keys, at his hands before his head lifted to fixate on something off-stage that they saw the faintest of smiles creep onto Licht’s face, and it was then that they realized he was in  _ love  _ with the demon he spoke of… 

 

And the room erupted into applause, people on their feet with tears on their faces. 

 

Licht drank it all in, bowing deeply as he always did, but he couldn’t keep the satisfied smile off his face as the image of an utterly flabbergasted and  _ awed  _ expression flickered back to the forefront of his mind. 

 

_ I am the angel, the Eve of Greed,  _ he hummed, straightening up to gaze upon the audience and allow the applause to die down,  _ so don’t you ever forget it.  _

 

_ I wouldn’t ever dream of such a thing, Licht,  _ was the quiet, almost breathless reply, but they were both too prideful and drunk on power to fall completely. 

 

The smile ticked back up onto Licht’s lips and he bowed again until the sound of the room wound down like a music box. 

 

\------- 

 

Neither of the Jekylland-Todorokis could quite believe it when they found their son, the stubbornly introverted, kept-to-himself Licht surrounded by a swath of people and  _ talking  _ with them, animated in his own way as he spoke and listened. 

 

“So  _ that _ was what you were working on the whole time?” one boy asked, dressed simply for the evening yet warm-faced, exuberant yet still knowing how to give Licht his space. “I understand why it took so long, then, if you were able to do  _ that!”  _

 

“It was definitely impressive,” another, though much tireder voice replied, the source a taller boy who seemed to be tempted by the idea of resting his chin atop the previous speaker’s head. “I’ve heard a lot of music over the years, but that was something entirely outside the realm of what I’ve heard.” 

 

“Definitely the work of a prodigy,” another boy mumbled, scowling at his companion when he was lightly hip-checked by him, earrings swaying as he shook his head gently. 

 

Licht’s lips twisted into a thin line, and  Magdalena stifled a laugh.  _ “Oh how he hates that word,”  _ she said quietly, earning a huff of a laugh from her husband. 

 

“That was just hard work and patience,” Licht argued, arms crossing over his chest. “Nothing magical.” The original speaker hummed, and Licht’s eye flicked to him. “What?” 

 

The boy waved his hand. “Nothing, nothing. Of all things to be humble about, you certainly pick the oddest things,” he said, making Licht squint. 

 

_ “Come on,”  _ Magdalena nudged, tugging them gently forward where her arm was looped through Keiichi’s. They weaved their way through the miscellaneous crowd toward Licht and the others, and  Magdalena waved cheerily at him. 

 

His eyes widened as he registered them, dropping his arms.  _ “Mutti,  _ _ Père,”  _ he called, and the others turned toward them in shock.  _ “I was just waiting for you.”  _

 

“So these must be those elusive parents of yours,” one of the taller boys mumbled, now fully leaning onto his friend, who looked as if he had a half a mind to pinch him in the side and remove him. 

 

“I’m Keiichi, and this is my wife, Magdalena,” Keiichi greeted, and she smiled warmly as the others stared at them in shock. 

 

“It’s not so weird that I have parents, you know,” Licht groused, and the blond man chuckled quietly before smothering a cough into his palm. 

 

“You’re so much of an enigma that it’s a weird concept thinking you were  _ birthed,”  _ the tired one said, this time getting a whack to the chest. 

 

“You can’t just  _ say that,”  _ he hissed, and the other boy groaned. 

 

“Tell me I’m wrong,” he retorted, the last half of his words being cut off by a yawn. 

 

The other boy rolled his eyes. “Okay, let’s get you back before you  _ fall asleep on me,”  _ he muttered, and Magdalena  _ swore  _ she heard something purring. He turned back to them and smiled politely. “It’s nice to meet you both; I’m Shirota Mahiru, and this here’s Kuro, since he’s apparently too tired to even  _ stand.”  _

 

“Hello,” the tall one-  _ Kuro,  _ it seemed- droned, waving at the two while still leaning on Mahiru. 

 

Magdalena dipped her head in greeting. “It’s wonderful to meet you,” she said warmly, before her eyes caught on the other pair behind them. “And who might you be?” 

 

“Alicein Misono,” the shorter of the two said, surprisingly stern despite his height. His chin was held high, stubborn, and Magdalena saw Mahiru faintly sigh. 

 

“And I’m Lily,” the blond man said, a gentle giant in voice and demeanor both. “It’s a pleasure.” 

 

“The pleasure is ours, meeting friends of Licht,” Keiichi said, and Licht fiddled with his hands ever so subtly; Magdalena smiled. 

 

She paused in realization, snapping. “Oh! Where’s that one boy with the hair, Lawless- no,  _ Hyde, _ right?” she said, and watched in curiosity as Licht turned the slightest shade of pink as the others fixed him with a  _ look.  _

 

Licht cleared his throat. “He’s in the dressing room sleeping last time I checked,” he replied, tugging at his cuffs. “He didn’t want to wait out here with everyone.” 

 

“Uh huh,” Kuro mumbled, earning another smack in chest from a silently-chiding Mahiru. 

 

“It was either that or I let him wreak havoc backstage,” Licht deadpanned. “Then Kranz would be on my ass for the next  _ month.”  _

 

“That’s a fair point,” Lily said, and Licht sighed; Magdalena laughed richly, and she saw Mahiru shift. 

 

“Well, I think we should be heading out,” he interrupted after Kuro leaned heavily onto him for the third time, catching both of their eyes with understanding. “I’m sure you want to have some time with your son after his concert.” 

 

“Is Kranz nearby? I wanted to thank him for inviting us,” Lily said, looking around before his face fell. 

 

Licht blew out a breath. “He’s dealing with interviewers,” he said, “so he’s in one of the back rooms setting up.” There was faint annoyance on his face, particularly in the word  _ interviewers.  _

 

“Be sure to thank him then, will you?” Lily requested, to which Licht nodded. “Oh, and the Sendagayas said you two are always welcome to come back and stay there.” 

 

Magdalena cocked her head. “The Sendagayas?” 

 

“Another friend of ours,” Mahiru supplied cheerfully. “His family owns a hot springs, so he wasn’t able to come tonight as weekends are typically busy.” 

 

“Ah, I see.” Keiichi hummed, and gave Magdalena a faint look. “Well, if you don’t mind, how about we walk Licht back to the dressing room? It’s getting late now, and we wouldn’t want to keep you.” 

 

“Sounds good to me,” Kuro muttered, and Mahiru groaned when he leaned onto his head. 

 

_ “No, _ you stupid cat, wait until the car to sleep,” he complained, shoving Kuro off of him bodily enough to make the boy complain and swipe his hands down his shirt to smooth out nonexistent wrinkles. “Misono, is Doudou nearby?” 

 

“Yeah, he said he’s been ready since the hall let out, so we can go whenever,” he replied, and Mahiru nodded. 

 

“Alright! I supposed we’re heading out for the night,” Mahiru said brightly, linking his arm through Kuro’s and yanking deliberately. “I hope you all have a good evening as well! And Licht-san, I meant what I said earlier; your performance really  _ was _ phenomenal.” 

 

“Thank you,” Licht said, blinking at Mahiru’s unusual brand of bluntness, and Mahiru smiled before mumbling something to Kuro and tugging at him.

 

“Get home safely!” Magdalena called, and Mahiru grinned back at her. Lily waved at them both as Misono stiffly bowed, more uncomfortable than rude. Kuro, meanwhile, complained as Mahiru dragged him along toward the stairs, winding out of sight to where they’d head out the front doors. 

 

Keiichi clapped his hands together, making Licht jump. “Shall we head to the dressing room now?” 

 

Licht felt strangely anxious, stomach twisting. 

 

“Sure. It’s down this way,  _ Père _ .” 

 

“Then let’s go!” 

 

***

 

Most of the walk down the quiet back hallways was aimless, familiar chatter between the three, switching between their unique mesh of languages as one person forgot a phrase and substituted it with the first alternate reply they could think of; it was certainly refreshing in its own sort of way. 

 

“A hot springs, you said?” Magdalena repeated curiously, and Licht nodded. “Well, I’m sure that was a wonderful source of inspiration!” 

 

“When I wasn’t being disturbed, sure,” Licht mumbled, hands in his pockets, and she laughed. 

 

“Art doesn’t come from a strife-free environment,” she reminded, and he huffed. 

 

“Did you have a good time, at least?” Keiichi chimed in, and Licht resisted the urge to snort. 

 

_ Yeah, if you don’t count the near-death experiences and frustration.  _

 

Licht hummed in affirmation instead. The reply satisfied his father, but Magdalena peered closely at him. “Something’s changed about you,  _ Engel,  _ but I’m not entirely sure what,” she said, earning a side-eye from Licht. “It was in your music, too.” 

 

“Finishing a piece of that magnitude was just gratifying,” he said, shrugging, but the faintest of smiles tugged at the corner of his lips.  _ In more ways than one.  _

 

“It was wonderful hearing your story-telling, I must say,” Magdalena said, squeezing Keiichi’s arm ever-so-slightly. “There was much to be taken away from  _ Erlösung  _ and how it changed the color of the first two pieces; you managed to weave the two initial storylines together and retell the beginning as the end and it was just  _ breathtaking!”  _

 

Licht felt a satisfied smile creep over his face. “Thank you,  _ Mutti,”  _ he said sincerely, fingers tugging at the lining of his pockets. 

 

“You know, it reminded me a bit of Beethoven’s story of _ Für Elise,”  _ Keiichi mused, tapping at his chin a bit as they wove around the stairwell. This time Licht  _ did  _ snort, shaking his head at the prideful starburst seeping into the back of his mind in muffled laughter. “What?” 

 

“Nothing,” Licht said, but there was amusement lifting his words. “Just a bit of an old joke.” 

 

(Magdalena gave Keiichi a look, and he raised an eyebrow.) 

 

“It’s down on the other side of this hallway,” Licht interrupted, gesturing down toward the door in question. “Kranz won’t be here for a bit, so we have some time to talk before the interviews start.”

 

He must’ve made a face, because Magdalena burst out laughing. “We know how much you  _ love  _ those,” she teased, and he gave her a deadpan expression.

 

“I’d rather just go back to the hotel,” he said dryly, earning a chuckle from both of them. 

 

“Oh! Before I forget,” Magdalena started as they reached the dressing room door, barely ajar, “your story… just how did you come up with the ending? You were struggling quite a bit with it last time we were together.” 

 

Licht squinted at her, simultaneously listening to see if Hyde was awake inside. Without hearing any shuffling from the dark room, he frowned, assuming he was out. “You’re the one who always says that stories write themselves, right?” he replied, turning back toward his parents. His hands slid out of his pockets, one bracing on his hip while the other swiped through the tacky gel slicking his hair out of his face. “So that’s about it.” 

 

He felt pinned as an insect when he saw both of them give him a knowing, patient look, and he wanted to squirm. 

_ What, am I supposed to say that what started as a test of skill turned into a parable for my own relationship?  _

 

“Your  _ demon,  _ Lichtlein,” Magdalena pressed, and the red of her smile matched the shimmer of her gown as she shifted.  _ “I would’ve thought you’d slay it, and yet you waltzed it until you both were dizzy. I never thought the day would come where you chose to dance instead of fight.”  _

 

Licht shook his head. “You’re reading into things too much,” he argued, but her lips shifted into a grin. 

 

_ “Kleiner Engel,  _ who _ is _ this demon of yours?” she continued, and Licht blew out a deep sigh. “Because when you were playing, it was obvious you were focused on  _ them  _ from where your eyes were.” 

 

“Magdalena,” Keiichi warned, but she waved him off. 

 

“It’s just a story,  _ Mutti,”  _ Licht forced out, annoyed, and he threw up his hands. “After all, it’s not as if he-” 

 

The words cut off abruptly when a pair of arms slunk around his chest, tight and possessive, and a familiar voice whined in his ear as a chin settled into the dip of his collarbone.  _ “Lich-tan,  _ I thought you’d  _ died  _ because you took so long,” Hyde complained magnificently, and Licht had to force himself to breathe normally.  _ (Fuck, I didn’t even hear him come up behind me-)  _

 

Licht flexed his fingers, but otherwise didn’t move. “Hyde, what do you think you’re doing?” he said slowly, a careful amount of venom dispensed in his voice. “I’m busy.” 

 

Even with his face barely in the corner of his eye, Licht could still sense Hyde pout dramatically. “I only came out ‘cause I heard you guys talking about me, angel,” he said petulantly, but the way his fingers tightened in the fabric and the impish smile twisting through Licht’s mind had him torn between irritation and embarrassment. 

 

So, his body overcompensated for both and turned his face bright red, drying up the words he wanted to say in his throat. 

 

His eyes flickered toward his parents when he caught their poor attempts at hiding their surprise and amusement, and blew out an annoyed sound when he felt Hyde laugh right beside his ear.  _ “I’m going to kill you, shithead,”  _ Licht hissed in sharpened German, eliciting a faux gasp as Hyde turned his head gawk at him. 

 

“There’s no need to be so rude, _mon_ _Ange de la Musique,”_ Hyde quipped, and Licht sighed deeply, ignoring how the nickname sparked warmly in his chest. (A satisfied Cheshire grin seeped through the bond, and Licht resisted the urge to roll his eyes.) 

 

“It’s lovely to see you again,  _ chéri,”  _ Magdalena said warmly, and Licht caged his face with a hand. “I see you’ve been taking care of Licht just as you said.” 

 

**_Mutti,_ ** _ I swear to god-  _

 

“You can say that,” Hyde answered, saccharine yet sincere, and he loosened his arms just a fraction so that he could drape them around Licht’s neck instead, balancing on him. “He’s been a bit cooped up like a chicken as it is, so I did my best to pry him out from time to time.”  

 

_ Kiss ass,  _ Licht snarked, earning a wicked grin. “I’m not a damn chicken,” he muttered aloud, reaching up to tug reproachfully at Hyde’s bangs; Hyde responded by childishly sticking out his tongue. 

 

_ “‘There is no evil angel but Love,’”  _ Hyde quoted in perfect English, and Licht audibly groaned. 

 

“Well, I suppose ‘friend’  _ wouldn’t  _ be the right word for you, then,” Keiichi commented, to which Licht knit his eyebrows as Hyde choked. The mixed reply earned a smile from the man, who crossed his arms with a huff of laughter. 

 

“I guess I’m just his  _ better  _ half under all that brooding and  _ denpa-ness,”  _ Hyde teased, making Licht splutter out a poorly-constructed retort that had Hyde giggling, wide-grinned and eyes flashing in glee. 

 

“‘Better half’ my  _ ass,”  _ Licht eventually spit out, crossing his arms bitterly, but Hyde only tightened his arms around Licht’s neck affectionately. (If Magdalena noticed how Licht only leaned back into his touch despite the scowl on his face, she didn’t comment.) 

 

_ “So _ then, Hyde,” Magdalena interrupted cheerfully, clapping her hands together, “what did  _ you _ think of Licht’s performance?” 

 

_ Such a loaded question,  _ Licht thought blithely, realizing he’d focused on the thought a little too loudly when a quiet  _ And such a loaded answer, too,  _ echoed through the bond, making Licht wrinkle his nose. 

 

“It was good to finally hear his final piece since he so  _ cruelly  _ kept it from me,” Hyde lamented, and Licht scoffed. 

 

“You make it sound like it was just you, idiot,” he retorted, and Hyde snickered. 

 

“It was worth it nonetheless despite the torture.” 

 

“‘Torture’? Don’t be dramatic.” 

 

_ “Me,  _ dramatic? I have absolutely no idea what you mean, angel,  _ especially  _ when I’m standing next to  _ you  _ of all people.” 

 

“I am in no fashion  _ dramatic,  _ you stupid hedgehog-” 

 

_ “Really?  _ You wanna pull that card when I just saw the most  _ dramatic performance of yours?”  _

 

“You little-” 

 

The bickering continued, bouncing back and force between the two, and Licht’s parents watched in amusement and fascination as Licht retained his mask of irritation despite Hyde’s touch shifting from his neck to his shoulder as he leaned on Licht, not shying away from it in the slightest. If anything, he moved  _ into  _ it, following the shift of Hyde’s weight just as much as the tide of the argument in a perfect symphony that seemed almost choreographed- 

 

Almost like a waltz. 

(And from Licht’s expression under his dour demeanor was something alight and engaged, positively  _ enjoying  _ the banter and the verbal ping-pong.) 

 

Hyde was halfway through a slide of a complaint from Licht’s quip about his personality and burying his face in Licht’s shoulder when his parents registered the sound of footsteps and a familiar voice just down the hallway, while the boys only continued their conversation, long-lost in each other. They didn’t notice Kranz quietly talking with a young girl at his side in gentle, conversational French, nor the look on her face when she caught sight of Licht, face brightening oh-so-lightly. 

 

“You’re so rude, you know that? You won’t even let me finish defending myself before you keep arguing with me!” Hyde whined from the depths of where his words were muffled by Licht’s collarbone.

 

“Move, dammit, you’re heav-” Licht broke off, clearing his throat as his eyes caught on the approaching party. “Oi, get off.” 

 

_ “Nooo,  _ because you’re being  _ rude!”  _

 

_ “Oi-”  _

 

“So I’m just gonna stay right here until you-” 

 

_ “Hyde,”  _ Licht ground out, eyeing the girl who’d stopped by Kranz’s side. 

 

“What?” Hyde asked petulantly, head popping up, before his eyes immediately latched onto the girl. She was close to Licht’s age and undeniably pretty, in a simple, formal way with her perfectly coiffed coffee-dark hair and pale, creamy skin. With a silvery-lavender dress twirling around her legs, Hyde instantly conjured the image of a princess, and his smile vanished as he registered the irritatingly familiar expression on her face as she scrutinized Licht- 

 

Awed, bashful, and just a tiny bit in love. 

(It all read the same on  _ every girl  _ with their cherry-blossomed cheeks and fidgeting fingers.) 

 

_ “This is your first interview of the night, Licht,”  _ Kranz started warmly, and Hyde’s mood immediately soured. Kranz swept a hand toward her introduction as he continued.  _ “Her name is _ _ Amélie Durand, and she’s gathering information for a paper of hers.”  _

 

_ “It’s a pleasure to meet you,”  _ she said gracefully, curtsying ever-so-slightly, and Hyde resisted the urge to scoff.  _ Silver and polished, just like every other precocious Parisian.  _

 

_ “You came all the way to Japan to see his performance?”  _ Keiichi asked, and she nodded, albeit a touch surprised at his fluent French. 

 

Hyde’s hands were already moving, slowly but methodical as they crept from Licht’s neck down his shoulder. He saw Licht knit his eyebrows at him, but he only smirked.  _ What are you doing?  _ Licht whispered into his mind, but Hyde didn’t answer as his fingers emerged from beside Licht’s ribs to wrap back around his chest tightly. 

 

Hyde saw the girl-  _ Amélie, right?-  _ blink as she saw Hyde’s hands, but she only stared as Kranz continued the conversation. (If Licht had any idea what his intention was, he didn’t do anything to stop him, only spurring Hyde on further.) 

 

It was then that Hyde’s fingers splayed over Licht’s chest, pale skin over the dark of his suit jacket, rings and bracelets blinding in the light of the hallway. With a thinly-smirking challenge of a smile creeping over his face, Hyde carefully leaned his cheek onto Licht’s shoulder to stare slanted at her, eyes glittering darkly behind his glasses. 

 

_ I dare you,  _ was what he was saying, and he felt Licht’s breathing shift almost imperceptibly as a wave of possessiveness rolled through Hyde.  _ I dare you to try and take what’s  _ **_mine._ **

 

Her eyes went wide, and suddenly she blushed before she averted her gaze with a cough. 

 

Licht’s eyes cut over to him in a sharp, curious side-eye.  _ Jealous, much?  _

 

_ I’m greed; I don’t share well with others.  _

 

Licht sighed deeply. “Hyde,” he said quietly, but with enough emphasis on the name to latch onto Hyde’s instinctive need to obey. (It wasn’t as if he was angry with Hyde’s stunt; after all, they’d done  _ much  _ worse in near-public places, which Hyde frequently used to tease and/or  _ entice  _ Licht.) Hyde said nothing, only pouting at Licht before his hands slipped silently away to cross over his chest as Licht straightened his jacket.  _ “Where will we be talking?”  _ Licht asked, folding his arms behind his back and Hyde noted- which enough pride to put his elder brother to shame- that Amélie squeaked at the sound of his voice. 

 

_ “There’s a meeting room on the second floor that’s been set up for the night,”  _ Kranz replied, giving a warning look to Hyde- now leaning nonchalantly against the door frame of the dressing room- despite the pleasantness of his voice.  _ “If you’re ready now, we can head up there immediately.”  _

 

Licht nodded at them both, despite Amélie barely looking at him as she eyed Hyde warily. He turned to his parents then and wished them a short goodbye as he promised to speak with them later upon the conclusion of his interviews, a rapid back and forth in German that Hyde barely caught before  Magdalena reached out to squeeze at Licht’s shoulder lightly. A small smile quirked at his lips, and Hyde wanted nothing more than to just tug Licht back into the dressing room and shut the door. 

 

_ I want to thank you for your music, I don’t want to share, I want you to myself-  _

 

“Will the others be held there as well?” Licht asked Kranz directly in Japanese, but Hyde wasn’t focused on the words as he watched two of Licht’s fingers uncurl from where they were wrapped around his palm in a subtle gesture of  _ look at me.  _

 

It was something so small in any other context, but it was declaration of its own for Licht despite its simplicity, and Hyde felt like he was falling in love all over again as he reached out to wrap his own fingers around Licht’s and squeeze lightly. (There was a hitch in their bond, a faint blotch of pink, and Hyde grinned at the reaction.) 

 

“We can discuss that afterward, but we best get a move on before it gets much later,” Kranz said, and Licht nodded again, carefully extricating his fingers from Hyde’s to tuck them into his pockets smoothly. 

 

_ “Let’s start, then,”  _ he said, before turning to  Amélie.  _ “Lead the way.”  _

 

She balked, startled, before blurting a sharp  _ “Yes!”  _ that had Kranz restraining laughter and Licht resisting an eye-roll.  _ “This way, then, Monsieur Todoroki.”  _

 

_ Ooh, you got Monsieur’d; fancy fancy. _

 

_ Shut it, shit-rat. Envy looks bad on you.  _

 

_ Aw, are you saying green’s not my color?  _

 

Licht didn’t reply, only giving him a sarcastic expression over his shoulder before following Kranz and the jittery Amélie down the hallway toward the stairwell. Hyde snorted, settling back into the doorjamb with a satisfied smirk on his face. He looked back over to Licht’s parents when he heard a faint chuckle, raising his eyebrow at their knowing expressions. “What?” he said, faux-innocent, but it melted into a sincere smile when they laughed fully. 

 

“You know, I’d love to hear about  _ your _ side of the story,  _ kleiner Daemon,”  _ Magdalena said fondly, and Hyde shook his head with a laugh. 

 

“There’s nothing much to tell, if I’m being honest,” he said, and cocked his head at their disbelieving expressions. He sighed. “There’s not much a demon’s tale in the limelight of an angel, particularly when his  _ first  _ love is, and always  _ will be _ , music.” 

 

“Well, you’ve got the second part right,” Keiichi said, crossing his arms with a quirk of a smile on his lips. 

 

Magdalena lightly pressed her fingers to Keiichi’s arm, humming. “However, he lets you touch him unreservedly,” she said, eyes glittering with knowing mirth, “and he lights up with something I never thought I’d see when he’s with you. That’s not to be taken lightly, _Liebling.”_ Hyde scoffed, ready to rebut her, but she held up a hand. “You heard his music; it didn’t lie.” 

 

“You were the one in the wings he was playing to, weren’t you?” Keiichi added, and Hyde found himself scratching at the back of his neck, fingers scraping at his scalp before they tugged at the studs in his ear. (He had two new ones shining lightly in the dark, subtle memories of his ancient heart: an emerald sparkling above an amethyst.) 

 

“Maybe,” Hyde heard himself mutter, and  Magdalena chuckled. 

 

“After such an ardent display, I wasn’t expecting such  _ bashfulness _ from you,” she commented, and his eyes skittered to the wall behind her. 

 

There was something about the people in front of him that made him so transparent, so shakeable and unable to hide behind his normal bravado, and it was unsettling. 

_ (I suppose it’s just a Jekylland-Todoroki trait, then.)  _

 

“I’m the middle child of seven, and my eldest brother’s a bit of a shit when it comes to things like that, and I guess I never really got used to it,” he admitted bitterly, and Keiichi laughed as Magdalena gaped at him. 

 

_ “Seven?  _ Goodness, I can’t even fathom that,” she gasped, and Hyde huffed. 

 

“Yeah, it can be a bit of trouble sometimes, but it’s never a dull moment when we’re together,” he said, before he dropped his hand to tuck it into his pocket. “It’s actually thanks to him that I eventually uh… well, got off my ass and  _ did  _ something about Licht. Sort of.” His face went red as he blew out a breath in frustration, annoyed at his lack of eloquence.  _ Smooth, Lawless. Way to make a good impression.  _

 

“And here I thought you said your tale wasn’t interesting?” Magdalena teased, and he rolled his eyes in good nature. 

 

“Okay, okay, maybe it had some twists here and there, but it’s  _ mostly _ a tragedy.” 

 

“Oh? How so?” 

 

Hyde chewed on his lip, contemplating, before he slowly let out a breath. “Hm, well, let’s say I’m not quite so fond of violets, having been stricken twice with them now,” he said lowly, fingers twining in the chain at his throat. 

 

Keiichi shifted on his feet, head tilting curiously, but the spark in Magdalena’s eyes made Hyde internally groan. “What do you mean,  _ violets?”  _ Keiichi asked, but she hushed him.

 

“You’ve had  _ Teufelblume?”  _ she asked, incredulous and empathetic all the same, but Hyde was surprised most by  the lack of pity in her tone. He wet his lips uneasily before he nodded. She paused, before an awed expression dawned over her face.  _ “You had them for Lichtlein?”  _

 

He nodded again, and both of their eyes widened. He wanted to look away, but he held their eye as he watched them process the information. Magdalena’s face warmed into that shade of motherly kindness that Hyde never quite understood, a mesh between gentle patience and empathetic knowingness. “I  _ told _ him that one day he may experience it himself, and yet I find it so fitting that he had to figure out another’s flowers instead.” 

 

Hyde barked a laugh at that, apparently potent enough to draw a mental nudge of confusion from Licht. “I’m glad it was a learning experience for him, but there were definitely times that I  _ really  _ didn’t appreciate it,” he said jokingly, a crooked smile on his face. 

 

“Wait so… how long did you have it? Did you have it when we first met you?” Keiichi rattled off, tilting his head. “And you said you’ve had it  _ twice?”  _

 

Hyde grinned before shoving off of the door frame, opening the door further to invite them in. “Why don’t we sit and talk in here while waiting for him? I think it’d be comfier sitting down,” he said, grin melting into a smile when he saw their immediate shift into relief and intrigue.

 

“That sounds lovely,” Magdalena said, and Hyde bowed before stepping back to allow them in, flipping on the lights to illuminate the room. Hyde took the chair from the dressing table and shifted it until it was in front of the couch, gesturing for them to sit. “Now, why don’t you tell us your story after all? I want to hear of how a ‘demon’ managed to take the heart of our stubborn angel,” she said as they gratefully sat. 

 

Hyde smile, impossibly warm to the bone, and crossed his leg over his knee as he tugged absently at his pants. 

Then, he  _ talked, _ and wove his own story of how he fell- both from the light of Ophelia as well as in love with Licht (sparing the vampiric bits, of course), and felt a sense of peace that he hadn’t experienced in so long as he talked to the human parents of the stubborn Eve who’d stolen his heart. 

 

\----- 

 

“I think your parents love me now too,” Hyde mumbled from his spot where he was nestled in Licht’s chest, both of them stretched out in the dark of their hotel room. 

 

Licht snorted. “Like hell,” he said, flicking Hyde’s ear. Hyde whined and turned his head, opening an eye to stare up at Licht. 

 

“You don’t believe me, angel? You _ saw _ their faces when you came back from the interviews!” he argued, and Licht grunted, eyes not opening. Hyde pouted and reached up to poke at Licht’s nose, earning a scrunched expression before Licht’s hand moved from where it was wrapped around Hyde’s back to swat away Hyde’s finger. Hyde only snickered and pulled gently at the white strand of hair hidden between the dark shower-mussed tresses. 

 

“Shut up and let me sleep, stupid Hyde,” Licht muttered, lightly batting away Hyde’s hand and making a noise of complaint when Hyde snagged his hand and pressed a kiss to inside of his wrist instead. 

 

“They showed me photos of when your hair was growing back in black.” 

 

Licht’s eyes snapped open. “You’re fucking kidding.” 

 

Hyde’s fang-toothed grin glowed eerily in the darkness up at him. “You looked like an oreo pudding and it was  _ hilarious.”  _

 

Licht clapped his hands over his face and groaned, eliciting a giggle from Hyde. “I’m gonna kill them,” he said, muffled by his hands, and Hyde only shifted, moving higher until he was scant centimeters from Licht’s face. 

 

“‘S’okay, since I find you delicious either way,” Hyde said lowly, a smirk etched onto his face that had Licht forcing Hyde’s face into his chest as his ears went hot. 

 

“Don’t say stupid things like that, bastard,” he hissed, but the crooked hitch in his voice that bubbled through the bond had Hyde laughing. 

 

“You know it’s true, though!” Hyde declared through the fabric and bone of Licht’s chest, earning another grunt of irritation. 

 

“Shut it,” Licht warned, but his hands moved from where he was pressing Hyde’s face down so that Hyde could pop up and grin lopsidedly at him. (It was that stupid, sincere smile that had Licht’s stomach twisting, even through his annoyance and cherry ears.) 

 

“You love me,” Hyde said, and Licht huffed, not saying anything. Hyde chuckled and leaned up to press a gentle kiss first to his cheek before his lips, settling back down under the blanket and in the softness of Licht’s stomach. “Good night,  _ Engel.”  _

 

_ Good night to you too,  _ Licht hummed quietly in his mind, and Hyde smiled when he felt delicate fingers weave through Hyde’s hair comfortingly before a kiss was pressed to the crown of his head. 

 

For once, the silence between them in the night was  _ quiet,  _ filled with nothing more than a shared heartbeat glowing in the warmth of a sonata beneath the thin skin over their rib cages, nearly seconds away from bursting through bone to spill between them. 

 

For once, it wasn’t violet, swallowed back in sticky petals that loitered and festered in the lungs. 

 

For once, it was calm, shared, in warm, amber-red that lulled them both to sleep, and Hyde thought he heard the gentle laugh of Ophelia in his ear as she whispered blessings to them both in a language long dead but still lovely. (It was a continuing symphony outside of  _ Salvation,  _ this one in shades of intimate warmth that wasn’t meant to be broadcasted to an audience other than themselves.) 

 

_ Well, maybe there  _ **_are_ ** _ angels here and there.  _

 

_ Of course there are- I’m here, after all.  _

 

Hyde lightly huffed. 

 

_ Of course,  _ **_mein kleiner Engel,_ ** _ and I don’t ever doubt it.  _

 

_ Good.  _

 

(The One and Only Lawless of Greed, known for bloodshed and frivolity, couldn’t remember the last time he slept so soundly, so warmly, and the numb arms in the morning were entirely worth it seeing Licht’s barely-conscious face blinking up at him in unregulated softness.

 

Sure, he may indeed be a fool in the face of love, but he was  _ greed, _ after all- 

And there was no other way he’d want it.) 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!! :D   
> Comments and questions are highly appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> So while the 'official' title is Hide and Seek, its true title is actually Banana Bitches as it is so named on my computer  
> Iconic  
> Thank you for reading! Please feel free to ask any questions or leave a comment! 
> 
> I'm @aliceinhyrulebastion on Tumblr if you're so inclined


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